Oil platform off Norway evacuated after ship collision

An North Sea oil platform off Norway had to be mostly evacuated overnight after a water supply-ship struck it, damaging several lifeboats, the Equinor company that operates it said Friday.

Helicopters carried off 218 of the 276 personnel on the Statfjord A platform and dropped them off on nearby installations, it said.

No injuries nor environmental damage were caused by the collision, the company said.

For reasons not yet known, the PSV Sjoborg supply ship ran into the platform as the ship was pumping over drinking water, according to Equinor. The platform was in maintenance mode at the time and was not pumping oil.

After the incident, the supply ship made it to the Norwegian port of Mondstad under its own power. None of the crew members was hurt, according to its owner, the company Skansi Offshore located in Denmark's Faroe Islands.