Rig families to get compensation from Norway
Survivors and families of those killed in an oil rig disaster 45 years ago will finally get compensation from the Norwegian state after a close vote passed in the country's parliament.More than 120 people died, including 22 Brits, when the Alexander Kielland floating platform capsized in the North Sea oil fields on 27 March 1980.Opposition parties in the Norwegian house, the Storting, who filed the compensation motion, said the disaster was still an "open wound" for the country which needed closing.Among those attending the debate in Oslo were Brits Laura Fleming and Tara Pender, whose fathers died.
Ms Fleming, from Durham, previously said there were unanswered questions about the disaster, which killed her father Michael and five of his compatriots from the Cumbrian village of Cleator Moor.The motion had been opposed by the government but passed through the Storting by 53 votes to 51, after 11 MPs engaged in a nearly hour-long debate watched by about 40 members of the Kielland Network campaign group.
Exchanging tearful hugs with other members of the network, Ms Fleming said she was "ecstatic"."It is easy to get lost in the whole battle of everything and to forget what you are fighting for, but really it's for justice and acknowledgement of what happened," Ms Fleming said.She said the compensation was not about the money, but rather the "principle" that after 45 years of being "ignored and neglected", the majority of the Norwegian parliament was now saying "yes, we should have done better by you".Ms Pender, from near Nottingham, was 13 when her father PJ Pender died and wore a necklace containing a piece of the rig when she went to the Storting Building in central Oslo.She said she was "overwhelmed" with emotion and "a bit shocked".
The four-year-old platform was being used as an accommodation platform for the nearby Edda rig in the Ekofisk oil field about 200 miles (320km) off the coast from Stavanger, Norway, when one of its legs broke off during a storm.A 1981 Norwegian inquiry attributed the disaster to a crack in one of the braces caused during its construction in France, but the manufacturers said it had not been maintained or anchored properly by its operators.Some people received compensation at the time from the company which ran the oil rig, Phillips Petroleum, but campaigners said the Norwegian state should also accept responsibility.A University of Stavanger study published in 2025 said families and the 89 survivors were let down by official investigations, while a 2021 review by the Norwegian auditor general found "highly reprehensible" failures to hold any of the companies involved in the disaster to account, or to support families and survivors.The Norwegian government apologised and funded the study to assess the impact on those affected.
Merete Haslund, a leader of the Kielland Network, was 13 when her engineer father was killed on his first trip to the rig.She said the campaign group began in 2016 to get the "whole truth", which they were still fighting for, and financial recompense for the survivors and families from the Norwegian state.Ms Haslund said the compensation would "mean a lot to people", adding: "Very many people have been suffering not just mentally but also economically."
Ingrid Fiskaa, the foreign policy spokesperson for the Socialist Left Party and an MP for the Rogaland county which contains Stavanger, was one those putting forward the motion.Ms Fiskaa, who was three years old when the disaster occurred, said it affected a lot of people in her region and was "still an open wound"."What we are really hoping for is today will start the work to close that wound," she told the BBC.
She told the story of one of her constituents, a 70-year-old man who survived but suffered horrific injuries to his mouth and teeth which had seen him rack up large dental debts."The most important thing for him is that the state never has taken responsibility," Ms Fiskaa said, adding previous governments had "had a really hard time admitting the state has done this wrong".
Mimir Kristjansson, an MP for the Red Party representing Rogaland, said the vote was a "historic day" and the compensation was 45 years overdue.Mr Kristjansson, whose speech sparked a round of applause from the Kielland Network members watching from the Storting's public gallery, said the disaster was an "open wound in the national memory of the oil industry"."Oil has made Norway a very, very rich country but it has also cost a lot of lives," he told the BBC.
Mr Kristjansson said a lot of people lost friends and family in the disaster and the Norwegian state had a "terrible track record of not taking care of the people we send out in very dangerous conditions to work at sea for us".The compensation was "not just about the money" but represented a "way for the state to take responsibility" for its mistakes, he said.Mr Kristjansson said there was a "great feeling of injustice" and the state had made "billions" while "gambling with the lives of a lot of ordinary working people".
Tonje Brenna, the Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion of Norway, said it was for the employers to pay compensation at the time, not the state.She said the 2021 review found there was "no basis for conducting a new investigation" as the authorities had done a "thorough job of clarifying the causes of the accident", although "certain weaknesses may have contributed to weakening confidence in the investigation".Ms Brenna said the Storting had "adopted a statement of regret for the inadequate follow-up [families of the deceased] and survivors experienced after the accident" and other work to probe the impact had been completed.She said there was therefore "no basis for drawing other conclusions or implementing further measures".But the win by just two votes means the Norwegian government will now have to determine a compensation settlement.
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'I'm not generally an angry person, it's not in my DNA but, when it comes to that monster who killed my son, I have massive anger. What makes my blood boil is that he's got away with murder. If he was in front of me and I had the opportunity to kill him I would, absolutely. 'He made a conscious decision to murder my son. 'Yes, he was ill, but he still made decisions. He was still in control. He could get a train. He could go to a cashpoint and go to buy a sandwich. He could drive a car. Don't tell me you can do all of that but not control yourself. 'Mental health is a reason for someone's behaviour but it's not an excuse.' David remembers every minute of that dreadful day. He was with Emma at the family's holiday lodge in Cornwall when the TV news began to report what was happening in Nottingham. After locating Barney's mobile in Ilkeston Road on his Find My Phone app, he called the police. 'When I said who my son was, I could hear the person on the phone's tone change completely. They said, 'It's really hectic here. We'll get someone to call you back.' Then I saw the phone moving towards the police station. 'Emma was in the middle of a work's team meeting. I said, 'We've got to go now.' 'We chucked the dogs in the car and began driving to Nottingham to my son. 'I didn't know if he was safe or not. Even if I got there and he just fell out of the pub because he's been out all night and had dropped his phone in Ilkeston Road, I'd have been the happiest man alive.' He was haring through Cornwall when his phone rang. It was a policewoman. 'When they won't quite tell you why they are calling, but ask if there's somewhere safe you can pull over, your heart just drops. You know what you are going to hear.' The policewoman could not confirm it was definitely Barney, but they'd found his driving licence in his wallet. Emma got out of the car and fell to her knees. 'I didn't know what to say or do,' says David. 'I couldn't believe it. All I remember is saying, 'I've got to get to my other son.' Charlie was at a school activities week in Torquay. Thankfully, the teacher in charge had separated him from his classmates before he'd seen the news on his phone. David does not know to this day who released his son's name to the media. Charlie was in the minibus when David and Emma arrived. 'Charlie is a very intelligent boy. We thought the best way of dealing with it wasn't to try to sugarcoat it so we told him Barney had been murdered. 'It was awful. He just broke down screaming and ran off.' The family travelled to Nottingham the following day where they met Grace's parents for the first time at a vigil for their children. 'The shock takes over,' says David. 'You can't quite fathom what's happening. There were so many people there crying – bless them.' David stood beside Grace's devastated father, Sanjoy, united in grief as they both addressed the mourning crowd with generous words of love. 'Nothing was rehearsed. I just found myself speaking. Maybe it's the British way.' Today Sanjoy and David speak often. He is, says David, sort of like a brother now. 'We're intrinsically linked for the rest of our lives. Barney and Grace fell together. Bless her, Grace tried to stop him attacking Barney. Emma says it all the time, 'Silly girl, why didn't you run?' But she wasn't that character. She wouldn't let her friend down. 'If it had been the other way round Barney, would never have left her.' Last month, Nottingham announced they would grant posthumous degrees to Barney and Grace, but David says, 'I would struggle to go and collect it as the pain of not seeing him getting it himself would be too much, especially when everyone else is graduating and quite rightly happy to be starting the next chapter of life.' On Friday, Barney and Grace's families will lay a rose where their children fell together on Ilkeston Road. Afterwards, they will walk with Ian's three sons to the place where their father was attacked. All are determined to continue their fight to hold the authorities to account. 'On Monday we see [the Health Secretary] Wes Streeting. 'We've got a statutory public inquiry where all that has happened will come out but that won't be until next year. 'We need change now. The people who allowed this to happen need to be held accountable for their mistakes now. How many more people need to be murdered by those with mental health issues for this to stop? 'We need to make the streets safer and protect all our sons and daughters. If we can do that, in the name of Barney, Grace and Ian, then that, I suppose, is success. But the main problem – the bit that really tears you apart – is that they are not here and we can't bring them back.'
