A fascinating account of the Piper Alpha Gas platform explosion in the North Sea during July 1988.

Due to a set of overlapping small difficulties a major mishap occurred and a catastrophic explosion took place.

A recent radio play here on the BBC gave eye witness accounts from some of the survivors .. a group of men made their way upwards to escape the inferno towards the helideck however because of the fire and updraughts no craft could approach .. I heard one of the men talk about seeing a fireball coming towards them up through the steelwork .. he said they had no option other than jump off the helideck into the ocean which was now seventeen stories below them or die by the fireball .. it was harrowing stuff to listen too - it must have been real hell. 168 men were killed.