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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Mark Brown North of England correspondent

‘A momentous day’: families of Britons killed in 1980 oil rig disaster finally win compensation

The Alexander L Kielland platform capsized in a storm on 27 March 1980 in the North Sea, killing 123 people.
The Alexander L Kielland platform capsized in a storm on 27 March 1980 in the North Sea. Photograph: NTB/Alamy

“I think we all feel like we’ve had a bit of a weight lifted off our shoulders,” said Laura Fleming after an important milestone in one of Europe’s longest-running industrial disaster sagas. “It is just 45 years too late.”

Fleming’s father, Michael, was one of 123 men who were killed when the Alexander L Kielland accommodation rig capsized during a fierce storm in the Norwegian North Sea oilfields on 27 March 1980.

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