Norway offshore platform rescue operation
- Duration
- 27 March 1980 - 29 March 1980
- Military personnel
- 280
- Fatalities
- none
- Decorations
- none
Although built as a North Sea oil platform, the Alexander L. Kielland was not being used for drilling operations. The platform was serving as a kind of hotel for the crew of Edda, an adjacent drilling platform.
Platform capsizes
A horizontal bracing fractured during a heavy storm on 27 March 1980. As a result, one of the platform’s 5 legs collapsed and the platform capsized within 15 minutes. Of the 212 people on board, 123 were killed. Only 89 survived the disaster. The crew of HNLMS Overijssel, a Royal Netherlands Navy destroyer, was tasked with directing the efforts of other surface ship crews to find survivors.