South Asian workers drown as Saudi oil giant's platform sinks

Saudi coast guard personnel have found the bodies of three South Asian workers at sea after they went missing when an oil company's offshore platform sank, officials said Saturday.

"We found two of them late yesterday and another one this morning," Eastern Province Coastguard spokesman Col. Khaled al-Arqubi told AFP.

In a statement emailed to AFP on Friday, Saudi oil giant Aramco, which owns the platform, had said the remaining 24 crew were saved and that some had suffered "limited injuries."

On Saturday, Aramco said it had "promptly dealt with the incident seeking support from the company's helicopters, boats, special diving teams, and medical evacuation teams."

The company said its teams had reacted to the sinking "effectively, limiting its effect on workers aboard the platform."

A thorough investigation had been launched into the accident, the Saudi company said, adding that its operations had not been affected.

The platform sank Friday as it was being used to carry out maintenance work at an oil well in Safaniya, the world's largest offshore oil field, about 165 miles north of Dhahran.

Dhahran is the headquarters for Aramco, the world's largest oil company in terms of production and reserves.

Discovered in 1951, the Safaniya field is 31 miles by 9.3 miles and has a production capability of more than 1.2 million barrels per day.

AFP