At Least One Dead and 30 Missing After Oil Rig Catches Fire in the Caspian Sea

At least one person is dead and 30 others are missing after an offshore oil rig caught fire on Friday in the Caspian Sea.

The rig reportedly went up in flames when a gas pipeline in the oil field was damaged in heavy wind. SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state energy company operating the rig, said oil production on 28 oil wells linked to the facility was suspended and all oil and gas pipelines, which link the platform with the land, were blocked as a safety precaution.

"The fire in the gas pipeline has not been completely extinguished and it has not been ruled out that it could spread to oil and gas wells near the platform," SOCAR said in a joint statement with Azerbaijan's Emergency Ministry and the country's chief prosecutor.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to create a special commission to deal with the accident and control the rescue operation. A criminal case was also opened to investigate the incident.

Rescue efforts on Friday were reportedly hampered by the ongoing storm. On Saturday, SOCAR posted a statement on their Facebook page that said 26 workers aboard the rig had been taken to safety. It's unclear if any workers remain on board, and SOCAR did not respond to a VICE News inquiry seeking clarification.

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The Oil Workers' Rights Protection Committee, an independent organization, previously estimated that 32 workers were killed in the accident.

"According to our information, 32 workers died while 42 workers were rescued last night," Mirvari Gakhramanly, head of Azerbaijan's Oil Workers' Rights Protection Committee, told Reuters.

One of the oil workers, who wished to remain anonymous, reportedly called a Reuters correspondent from the rig on Friday and said that 84 people were trapped.

The fire is expected to deliver a temporary blow to SOCAR's oil production output, about 60 percent of which passes via the platform that is currently burning. Most of Azerbaijan's oil is produced elsewhere, including fields operated by BP, a British oil company.

SOCAR said that another of its oil rigs in the Caspian Sea was also hit by Friday's storm, and that workers from there were still missing as of Saturday.

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

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Earlier this year, SOCAR president Rovnah Abdullayev announced plans to construct four new oil rigs over five years, costing around $4 billion.

It's unclear how much oil, if any, has been spilled into the Caspian Sea has a result of the fires.

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Reuters contributed to this report.