Macae - The world's largest offshore oil rig resumed sinking as rough seas impeded efforts to salvage it four days after blasts ripped through the structure, killing 10, the Brazilian owners said yesterday.
After stabilising the 40-storey platform for a day and raising hopes it could be saved, the rig sank another 1.3 feet (40 cm) on Sunday night and keeled over even further, Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras, said.
Three explosions rocked the rig early last Thursday, killing 10 of the 175 men aboard and seriously injuring another. Petrobras, the biggest company in Brazil, was still trying to determine the cause of the explosions.
Nearly 350 engineers, divers and navy men worked around the clock, though the weather worsened as a cold front moved up the southern Atlantic seaboard to the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro state.
Meanwhile, workers' unions said they were stepping up protests to demand more safety. They were going to maintain only skeleton crews on the 50 platforms off the Rio coast, which supply around 80 per cent of Brazil's oil, and would meet only minimum production targets. Petrobras flew in US and Dutch experts and 50 tonnes of European equipment to try to keep the platform afloat. They are pumping in nitrogen and compressed air and trying to pump out almost 3,000 tons of water weighing down the rig.
