Four Tunisian workers die in oil platform accident in Libya

Four Tunisian workers have lost their lives during an accident on the Bouri Offshore Field, about 120 kilometers north of the Libyan coast, Tunisia’s consul general in Tripoli told state-run agency TAP.

Taoufik Guesmi told the agency their corpses would be repatriated either Sunday or today Monday.

The men working for Tripoli-based Mellitah Oil & Gas, died Friday after falling from a floating storage tank when cables holding the floating reservoir snapped plunging them into the sea. They were doing some maintenance work on the tank.

Mellitah Oil & Gas said that the tragic accident occurred during the dismantling and hauling of the Sloug oil tank, which has been out of service since 2017.

 

The Libyan Ministry of Transport’s ports and shipping service announced in a statement Friday that Tunisian nationals had died in a “painful accident” on the Bouri oil platform in Libya and that other people were missing following this accident.

The Tunisian workers were recruited through an agreement between the consulate and Tripoli-based company. Guesmi told the agency that Mellitah Oil & Gas has taken charge of repatriation of the bodies.

 

A fifth Tunisian was injured in the accident and his health is stable.