Fire kills 32 oil workers in Caspian Sea

Thirty two oil workers are dead after a fire which broke out on a platform in the Caspian Sea.

Thirty oil workers are missing after the rig they were working on in the Caspian Sea was engulfed by a fire (Archie Goodwin/YouTube) Source: YouTube

Thirty-two workers have been killed and 42 rescued from an offshore oil platform that caught fire in Azerbaijan-controlled waters in the Caspian Sea.

"According to our information, 32 workers died while 42 workers were rescued last night," Azerbaijan's Oil Workers' Rights Protection Committee head Mirvari Gakhramanly said on Saturday morning.

"The fire on the platform was finally extinguished."

Azeri state energy company SOCAR said on Friday the fire had started after a gas pipeline on the platform was damaged in heavy wind.

It said rescue attempts were being complicated by a severe storm.

One worker called a Reuters correspondent from the platform and said there were 84 people trapped there. The worker did not want to be named.

SOCAR also said on Friday workers were missing after an accident at another offshore oil platform during the storm. A search and rescue operation was under way, it added.

Fourteen workers were killed in accidents on SOCAR's oil and gas platforms in 2014.