TWENTY YEARS ago tomorrow, the name Piper Alpha became a byword for offshore catastrophe. Of the 225 men on board the platform, 110 miles off Aberdeen, 167 perished, many of them suffocating in the toxic fumes generated after a gas leak was ignited.
Two years later, the Cullen Inquiry into the world's worst offshore oil disaster criticised safety procedures on the rig. This week radio marks the anniversary of the blaze. In Archive Hour tonight, Mark Stephen draws on BBC archives and on Aberdeen University's oral history collection to recall that awful night and explore its indelible impact on survivors, the families of victims, and the offshore oil industry itself. Interviewees include the late Bob Ballantyne, who became an unofficial spokesman for Piper Alpha survivors.
Radio 3's drama spot tomorrow night features a play by award-winning writer Stephen Phelps. Piper Alpha charts the disaster, in real time, from the initial explosion to the rig's collapse, and is closely based on evidence given to the Cullen Inquiry. The cast, including Nigel Betts, Kenny Blyth and Joan Walker, bring alive the horror of that night for those on the rig and watching it.
Trauma of a not too different stamp is the inheritance of children who witness appalling events when their communities are engulfed by conflict. In the first of a new series, Sunday Morning with Richard Holloway, the former bishop of Edinburgh talks to Nigel Osborne, composer and Reid Professor of Music at Edinburgh University, about his ongoing work with children caught up in the flames of war.
The full article contains 289 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
