We can’t forget. And we can’t let it happen again
Piper Alpha children tell of disaster’s impact
The children of victims of the Piper Alpha disaster have called for more to be done to ensure the tragedy is never forgotten.
Families of the 167 men killed and 61 workers who escaped and survived shared their memories in a new documentary about the 1988 North Sea oil rig explosion.
Amy Jo Thomson, 20, of Keith, Moray, whose dad Roy survived after jumping 120 feet from the burning oil platform with his boots on fire, said: “He talks about smelling burning flesh and hair – and people need to realise that actually happened just off the coast of Aberdeen.”
Vince Swales’ three daughters Louise, Katie and Jenna, of Blairgowrie, Perthshire, were aged seven, three and two when their dad survived the explosion that set the platform ablaze.
He was blown off the oil rig by one of the subsequent blasts after watching several of his colleagues plunge to their deaths while trying to escape the flames. Louise Robertson, 38, said: “People don’t understand how big it was and what it did, not just to our dad, but to us as a family because our family just broke down.”
Katie Swales, 34, said: “As his family, we want to make sure what happened to him, and what happened to everyone on Piper Alpha, is never forgotten and that it’s never allowed to happen again.”
Iona Bal lantyne, 25, whose dad Bob also survived the tragedy but died 15 years later, presents the BBC Alba documentary Piper Alpha: An Sgail – Under the Shadow, tomorrow.