A major search and rescue operation is underway off the coast of Gabon after an offshore drilling rig sank with 115 people on board, leaving five personnel unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
The Prospector 5, owned and operated by Borr Drilling, sank on Saturday night, 24 October 2026, while preparing for a new drilling campaign in the Dussafu Marin offshore area near Mayumba.<\/p>\n
According to Borr Drilling, 110 workers have been confirmed safe, while extensive marine and aerial searches continue for the five missing personnel.<\/p>\n
Preliminary findings suggest the rig experienced what is known in the offshore industry as a “punch-through” event during preloading operations.<\/p>\n
This occurs when a supporting leg of a jack-up drilling rig suddenly penetrates the seabed more deeply than expected, potentially causing the entire structure to lose stability.<\/p>\n
The rig subsequently tilted and sank before the planned drilling campaign had begun.<\/p>\n
However, Reuters has reported, citing sources familiar with the incident, that one worker died and four others remain missing. Borr Drilling and Gabonese authorities have not officially confirmed that revised casualty breakdown, continuing to classify five personnel as unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
Gabon\u2019s Ministry of Petroleum and Gas has activated a crisis response unit and called for additional naval support to strengthen the rescue operation.<\/p>\n
Authorities have also ordered a technical investigation into the disaster to establish the precise circumstances and determine responsibility.<\/p>\n
BW Energy, which contracted the rig for its offshore drilling campaign, confirmed that its nearby MaBoMo production facility suffered no reported damage. Production remains shut down under standard drilling-preparation procedures.<\/p>\n
Officials have reported no harmful-substance discharge so far, although environmental monitoring continues to protect the nearby coastline and Mayumba National Park.<\/p>\n
Borr Drilling CEO Bruno Morand expressed deep concern for the missing workers and their families, emphasising that the immediate priority remains the search operation and the welfare of everyone affected.<\/p>\n
The incident has raised serious questions about offshore installation procedures and the risks associated with positioning jack-up drilling rigs.<\/p>\n
As rescue teams continue their efforts, families and offshore workers await further confirmation about the fate of those still missing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gabon Offshore Rig Sinks During Drilling Preparations, 110 Workers Safe And Five Remain Missing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trinidad-and-tobago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}