‘A momentous day’: households of Britons killed in 1980 oil rig crisis in any case win reimbursement

“I think we all feel like we’ve had a bit of a weight lifted off our shoulders,” mentioned Laura Fleming after a very powerful milestone in one among Europe’s longest-running commercial crisis sagas. “It is just 45 years too late.”

Fleming’s father, Michael, was once one among 123 males who have been killed when the Alexander L Kielland lodging rig capsized right through a fierce typhoon within the Norwegian North Sea oilfields on 27 March 1980.

After many years of campaigning and investigations, nobody, frame or corporate has been immediately held to account for what came about. But, in a historical vote ultimate week, Norway’s parliament did in any case vote to arrange a state reimbursement scheme for kin of the boys who died.

Fleming, 51, was once in Oslo at Norway’s parliament, the Storting, to witness the vote and mentioned afterwards she had combined feelings.

“My mind is always in two places,” she mentioned. “I will always feel in my heart that justice hasn’t been done because, actually, nobody has been personally held to account for the dreadful decisions that were made regarding that rig – by allowing it to be used in the North Sea when it wasn’t safe to do so.

“However, this is a major step. I think it’s a momentous day for everybody, especially the Norwegians who’ve been fighting for the full 45 years.”

The Kielland was once a semi-submersible platform about 200 miles off the Norwegian coast. It was once housing 212 staff from the close by Edda drilling rig when one among its 5 legs, with terrible, deadly suddenness, snapped in a typhoon. Only 89 other people survived.

Michael Fleming, {an electrical} engineer, was once one among 22 Britons killed within the crisis, which resulted in elementary adjustments in protection routines and laws within the wider oil trade.

A file by way of mavens on the University of Stavanger this yr concluded the Norwegian government’ movements earlier than and after the cave in have been critically incorrect. It mentioned the popularity of the Norwegian petroleum trade was once prioritised over offering justice to the survivors and sufferers’ households.

Eva Joly, one of the crucial file’s authors, mentioned previous this yr: “This incident became a disaster because of a long chain of negligence, omissions and violations of rules designed precisely to prevent an accident becoming a disaster.”

Personal tales from the crisis, together with 350 accounts, are amassed at a reminiscence financial institution created by way of the college.

Fleming was once six when her dad died, so she has handiest fuzzy memories, however she cherishes those she has.

“I still have some memories of my father – I am quite lucky,” she mentioned. “I met a lady there who was in the womb when her dad died, so she didn’t know him at all.

“We’ve all got very, very different stories. But when we all get together, we’ve all had the same feelings, the same loss of not having a father, mums who struggled by not having a husband.”

When Michael died, the circle of relatives have been within the means of shifting from Cumbria to a large, dilapidated area in County Durham. That is the place Laura’s mom, Maureen, 82, nonetheless lives.

“My mum said that was her catharsis: doing the house up, the garden, going to yoga … that’s what got her through the death of my father.”

The 89 survivors and the bereaved households – between 300 and 400 kids misplaced their fathers, consistent with campaigners – won some reimbursement from insurers of the corporate that ran the rig, however no payout from the state.

The quantity of reimbursement households obtain will now be negotiated.

It was once 45 years overdue, however it was once the best factor to do, mentioned Fleming, a mediator who works with kids. “Norway is a very rich country and now finally they’re deciding to give a tiny bit of that wealth back for those men that unwittingly sacrificed their lives for profits.”

Fleming mentioned hers and different British households have been blind to the real nature of the twist of fate for years.

The Kielland Network’s founder, Kian Reme, was once the one who contacted British households however he died from most cancers ultimate yr.

About 40 community participants have been on the Norwegian parliament ultimate week and there was once disappointment on the absence of Reme, who misplaced his brother, Rolf, within the crisis.

“If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think any of this would have happened today,” mentioned Fleming. “He never gave up. He was a completely amazing man.”