The Medgaz floating platform which is assembling the Spain – Morrocco gas pipeline suffered an explosion in which at least 3 workers were killed this afternoon.
The floating platform is believed to the most the largest and most advanced ship of its kind in the world, and was working off the coast of Algeria. It is believed to be an industrial accident caused, according to TV reports, by a fault in the wielding equipment. All work on the undersea pipeline has been suspended for today.
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The company has denied initial reports it was an explosion, and said that it was a mechanical fault with the main crane that dropped a 20 ton steel tube onto the deck of the boat. The killed men were British, French and Senegelese, respectively.