An oil platform with 75 people on board that broke loose from a tugboat in the North Sea in severe weather was still adrift a day later, but operators of the rig said they hoped to reattach it to a tug later on Wednesday.
"We are hoping to reattach it (the rig) late this afternoon, depending on weather conditions," Sheena Wallace, a spokeswoman for Aberdeen-based Dolphin Drilling, told AFP.
The Bredford Dolphin platform, used as a drilling rig for oil exploration, was about 180 nautical miles from the southern coast of Norway on Wednesday afternoon.
The platform broke free from a tug towing it to a Polish shipyard on Tuesday afternoon, when the tug developed technical problems in winds gusting up to 90 knots. The platform was due in a Gdansk shipyard for routine
maintenance.
The 75 staff onboard the rig have not been evacuated.
Norwegian rescue services were unable to send a helicopter on Tuesday to evacuate the staff as "the weather was so severe," Wallace said.
"The tow vessel is close to the rig and we have sent a second vessel as a precaution, which should arrive in the early evening," she added.
No injuries were reported in the incident and rescue officials said there was no risk to the safety of those on board.
Hans Christensen of the south Norwegian rescue center said those on board the platform were "mostly British, there are a few Norwegians and a few Portuguese."
The towing operation began at the weekend and had been due to last for five or six days.