Death toll in oil platform disaster rises

22 Dec, 2011 09:09 / Updated 12 years ago

The number of confirmed fatalities from the weekend's oil rig disaster in Russia's Far East has risen to 17, after six more bodies were recovered from the sea.

Of the 67 people aboard the Kolskaya platform, 36 are still missing after it capsized while under tow to port and sank within just 20 minutes. Fourteen people were rescued from the waters within the first few hours of the rig going down and were transported to the island of Sakhalin for treatment. Four of them have already been discharged.A breach of safety regulations is being investigated as the main cause of the incident.