North Sea
Cases unlock in order, like levels. This is case 65 of 100.
Nordlys B platform, North Sea, 180 km off the coast of Norway, 2:05 am. The man overboard alarm went off: Eirik Lunde, safety engineer, fell from the lower deck into the freezing water.
The support vessel pulled him out dead at 2:30 am. Eight-meter waves, gale-force wind, no helicopter flies until dawn. The gate in the well 4 railing, always kept padlocked, was open, and Eirik had a right leather glove caught in his hand.
Outside the cabins, only three people were awake on the night shift. One of them went down to that railing.
The platform mess hall, steel tables bolted to the floor, the storm rattling the round windows.
Suspects
Arnel BautistaPlatform cook, 51
Ingrid HaugenMaintenance diver, 34
Gunnar MoeNight shift supervisor, 48
The real case
The Piper Alpha and Deepwater Horizon disasters
North Sea, 1988, and Gulf of Mexico, 2010
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
On 6 July 1988, the Piper Alpha platform in the Scottish North Sea exploded, killing 167 people. A safety valve on a condensate pump had been removed for maintenance; the shift handover failed to properly record the outstanding work, the pump was switched back on and gas leaked. It was the worst accident in the history of offshore oil production.
In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico exploded after a misread well pressure test, carried out under deadline and cost pressure; eleven people died and the spill lasted 87 days.
The game borrows the platform setting and the valve test poorly done or poorly recorded under production pressure. The murder, the characters and the outcome are fiction.
Sources
Case glossary
Words from this case you might not know.
- support vessel
- A ship that stays near an offshore platform to supply it and to rescue anyone who falls into the sea.
- mess hall
- The shared dining room where workers or crew eat on a platform, ship or base.