North Sea oil workers forced to remain on offshore platforms after last week's helicopter ditching are being picked up by boat.

BBC: Island Enforcer

More hazardous still were fires out on oil platforms, such as the Bravo blowout in the North Sea in 1977 and the Piper Alpha disaster, off Aberdeen, in 1988, where the capping of the well had to be done in the face of mountainous seas.

ECONOMIST: Obituary