Taking Chance
0300hrs, some 70 nautical miles into the Arabian Sea, absolute pitch darkness with no moon and a sprinkling of stars in the nightsky. It starts getting windy with the unmistakeable smell of petrichor in the air. The clouds give way, and it starts pouring - it's raining sideways thanks to the wind. The door to the DG Room is ajar, the panel starts getting wet, the power trips, the DG activates, short circuit and BOOM the DG Room is on fire ! While the fire safety-trained personnel on the rig scamper to get the fire extinguishers to douse the fire, I rush down to the accommodation to alert the people asleep and get them out. Both my junior colleagues are fast asleep on their top bunks. I pull them out, tell them to put on their coveralls immediately, grab their lifejackets and get to the muster point immediately. We reach the first muster point, right below the helideck and notice the massive orangeish yellow aura of an inferno. I rush my juniors to move to the main deck ...
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