Stricken ship threatens North Sea gas platform

LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) A large cargo ship adrift in a stormy North Sea threatened to smash into a gas platform yesterday, prompting rescue services to pluck workers off the structure.

All 30 people on the Murdoch platform were airlifted to safety and its operator ConocoPhillips shut down production as a precautionary measure.

The stricken vessel, the Vindo, floated past the installation, which lies in the southern North Sea 43 miles (69 kms) off Britain's east coast, at around 0330 hrs IST.

''It has passed the platform,'' said a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. ''But there some other platforms in the area. They are some distance away.'' Crew on board the Vindo, carrying 4,200 tonnes of fertiliser, had struggled to restart its engines and tugs were sent to the scene to try to alter the ship's course. Helicopters were on standby to take off the Vindo's nine crew.

Tony Tewton, watch manager of Humber Coastguard which is coordinating the rescue, described conditions as ''very difficult'' with high winds and waves of 6 metres (20 feet).

The Vindo broke down yesterday afternoon nine miles (14 km) from the platform.

Both the British and Irish weather centres issued gale warnings for all coastal regions yesterday as winds gusted at up to 80 miles per hour.

SEVEN MISSING OFF IRISH COAST A helicopter winched two Lithuanian fishermen to safety off Ireland's southeast coast yesterday but seven were still missing after two trawlers sunk in rough seas, the Irish Coast Guard said.

The two crew members of the 24-metre timber fishing vessel The Honeydew 2, which operates out of Kinsale, were lifted from a life raft where they had spent the last 20 hours.

''The two men are now on board a coast guard helicopter and will be taken to Waterford Regional Hospital to be checked out medically,'' Irish Coast Guard spokeswoman Veronica Scanlan said.

The search for the trawler's other two crew members by a helicopter, naval vessel and life boat, would continue for at least another two hours, she added.

Earlier search and rescue services called off for the night a nearby hunt for the crew of the 20-metre Pere Charles which sent a distress signal just after 6 pm (2330 hrs IST) on Wednesday before sinking about 2.5 miles off the port of Rosslare.

An empty life raft from the Pere Charles washed up on shore yesterday. The boat has a crew of four Irish citizens and one Eastern European, believed to be from Lithuania.

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