30 years ago today

[blameless]

The name "Piper Alpha" entered the public consciousness, for all the wrong reasons.

https://www.maritime-executive.com/a...ter#gs.aPXbkYM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...tland-44725320
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/1...lpha-disaster/

My uncle worked on the rigs for 35 years, fortunately in the late 80s he worked on a "lucky" platform where - although the safety standards weren't terrific - they also weren't bad enough to trigger a catastrophe like this.

[Lang Spoon]

My dad knew a few survivors. All gone now, by their own hand or the slow suicide of drink

[wiblflibl]

I remember seeing it on the news at the time but didn't have much of an understanding of just how horrendous it was until I saw the documentary Piper Alpha: Fire in the Night. Looks like it is being shown on BBC2 Scotland tomorrow at 10pm and will be on the BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

And of course part of a run of disasters/events that populated a grim map in the late 80s - Kings Cross, Hungerford and Zeebrugge in 1987, Lockerbie later in 1988, Hillsborough and the Marchioness in 1989.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Garcia's dad was involved in the clean-up and body recovery. It wouldn't be high on his list of after dinner conversational topics.

[elguapo4]

And of course part of a run of disasters/events that populated a grim map in the late 80s - Kings Cross, Hungerford and Zeebrugge in 1987, Lockerbie later in 1988, Hillsborough and the Marchioness in 1989.

And the British Midland Kegworth air crash which happened on my 25th birthday

[Third rate Leszno]

I remember seeing it on the news at the time but didn't have much of an understanding of just how horrendous it was until I saw the documentary Piper Alpha: Fire in the Night. Looks like it is being shown on BBC2 Scotland tomorrow at 10pm and will be on the BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast.

That’s one of the most affecting disaster documentaries I think I’ve ever seen. Not sure I could watch it again tbh.

[blameless]

I remember seeing it on the news at the time but didn't have much of an understanding of just how horrendous it was until I saw the documentary Piper Alpha: Fire in the Night. Looks like it is being shown on BBC2 Scotland tomorrow at 10pm and will be on the BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast.

Fire in the Night was the first thing I thought of when it emerged that many of the Grenfell Tower victims had been told to go back to their flats and await rescue - the similarities with Piper Alpha (people being told to go to the "fireproof" accommodation block and wait it out) were eery.

[Eggchaser]

Yeah, it was a tough watch, Christ alone knows what it really must have been like. Hell on Earth is trite, but probably an apt turn of phrase.

[Giggler]

The Wikipedia page and its accompanying timeline are distressing enough, nevermind moving pictures.

I used to work with a bloke who was on the rigs at the same kind of time. He knew people who died and goes into thousand yard stare when he talks about it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And of course part of a run of disasters/events that populated a grim map in the late 80s - Kings Cross, Hungerford and Zeebrugge in 1987, Lockerbie later in 1988, Hillsborough and the Marchioness in 1989.

And Clapham Junction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapha...ion_rail_crash

[adams house cat]

Flight 4146.

Typhoon Ruby.

[tee rex]

I was living in London for most of those 1980's disasters, and although they were big news, the media technology and culture of the time would be unrecognizable today. You could let them pass you by quite easily, just miss News at Ten, or join it five minutes late. Even Five Live wasn't born yet, never mind the internet.

Nicholas Ridley (Tory minister) made a Zeebrugge "joke" about somebody "leaving his bow doors open", only days after the tragedy, and never even needed to apologise. When we complain about social media pile-ons today, it's worth remembering the kind of immunity that politicians once had.

(Edit: Wikipedia says Ridley did apologise. No other consequences though).

[Paul S]

The Wikipedia page and its accompanying timeline are distressing enough, nevermind moving pictures.

I read the wikipedia page last night and it left me in silence. The sheer awfulness of what happened comes over and what a dreadful disaster it really was.

[Giggler]

I was living in London for most of those 1980's disasters, and although they were big news, the media technology and culture of the time would be unrecognizable today. You could let them pass you by quite easily, just miss News at Ten, or join it five minutes late. Even Five Live wasn't born yet, never mind the internet.

Nicholas Ridley (Tory minister) made a Zeebrugge "joke" about somebody "leaving his bow doors open", only days after the tragedy, and never even needed to apologise. When we complain about social media pile-ons today, it's worth remembering the kind of immunity that politicians once had.

(Edit: Wikipedia says Ridley did apologise. No other consequences though).

Regarding the spread of information, I’ve still got our VHS of Sportsnight when Bury took the lead at Old Trafford in the fourth round of the League Cup in 1987. It was the same night as Kings Cross and there’s a newsflash before it. Seems so archaic to watch it back.