‘Vision of hell’ was result of neglect of health and safety

happened on July 6 1988. At 9.55pm an explosion rocked the platform, gas leaked at high pressure and six gas alarms were triggered.

The firewalls were not designed to withstand explosions, and even as the control room was abandoned, after mayday had been signalled by the radio operator, the fire proved lethal.

At the time the conflagration occurred, there were 226 people on Piper. By the time the awful events had concluded, there were 165 fatalities, with two others killed from the standby vessel Sandhaven.

Charles Haffey, who got the George Medal for his heroics on the safety vessel Silver Pit, said: “It was a vision of hell, something straight from Dante’s Inferno. Whatever could go wrong did go wrong that night.”

In other circumstances, the original fire might have gradually diminished or been extinguished. But the nearby platforms, Tartan and Claymore, continued to pump gas and oil into Piper Alpha until its pipeline ruptured in a second explosion.

Their operational crews did not believe they had the authority to shut off production, even though they could see that Piper Alpha was being consumed by flames.

There was global shock at the scale of the cataclysm. The blazing remains of the platform were eventually extinguished three weeks later by a team led by renowned firefighter Red Adair.

The part of the platform which contained the galley and where about 100 men had taken refuge was recovered from the seabed in late 1988 and the bodies of 87 men were found inside.