"Aker Solutions can confirm one of its employees succumbed to injuries (sustained) when a huge wave hit the COSL Innovator platform," it said. Two other people were injured and were being treated ashore, Statoil said in a separate statement. "The rig is now heading to shore under its own power, while evacuation takes place," it said, adding that the rig's accommodation area had suffered damage.
Stormy weather in the area has seen waves surging as high as 15 metres (50 feet). Almost 400 oil workers were evacuated on Thursday after a huge barge broke its moorings and began drifting towards the Valhall and Ekofisk oilfields run by British energy giant BP and US multinational ConocoPhillips. The barge came adrift in British waters and missed the Valhall field by a kilometre, BP Norway spokesman Jan Erik Geirmo told AFP. Valhall, whose production was temporarily halted, is 330 kilometres (about 200 miles) south-west of the Norwegian port city of Stavanger.