Another 23 people are still missing from Platform No. 10 of the shallow- water Guneshli field, operated by Azerbaijan’s state-owned SOCAR. Three others are also missing from another platform in the Oil Rocks field after being swept overboard.

Rescue workers said there was little chance of finding any survivors. This means that the final death toll will probably hit 34 — the worst dis- aster in the history of Caspian Sea oil and gas production and the deadliest offshore platform accident since 167 people died in the Piper Alpha acci- dent in the North Sea in 1988.

At a press conference in Baku on Wednesday a downcast Khalig Mamedov, SOCAR vice-president , said: “Despite all the efforts, regrettably, no-one has been found. This is the biggest tragedy in SOCAR’s history.”

Media reported that most of the oil workers who died on Platform No.10 were killed in a botched attempt to abandon the platform in one of the lifeboats. Two dozen workers were successfully rescued from the plat- form, though.

As of Thursday, the blaze on Platform No. 10 was still burning.

The accident stunned people in Azerbaijan. Football matches across the country held a minute’s silence. Along the seafront in Baku people silently laid down bunches of roses. Others sobbed, looking out to sea.

The gas explosion at Platform No. 10 cut production at all 28 wells, 24 oil wells and four gas wells, of the shallow-water Guneshli field. Daily output at Guneshli was around 6,500 barrels/day of oil and 400m cubic metres of natural gas per year, Reuters reported.

Importantly for Azerbaijan’s overall oil production, BP said that output at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field complex that it manages was untouched by the accident.

Azerbaijan has been struggling to maintain oil output this year. This accident will dent both its safety record and oil production levels.