Fire in the Night: The Piper Alpha Disaster

The Fire Was Visible Seventy Miles Away As A Distant, Flickering Flame On The Horizon. The Heat Generated Was So Intense That A Helicopter Could Only Circle At A Perimeter Of One Mile, The Tongues Of Flame Extending Hundreds Of Feet Above The Rotor Blades. On The Surface A Converted Fishing Trawler Inched As Close As Possible, But The Paint On The Vessel's Hull Blistered And Burnt, And The Rope Handrails Began To Smoke. In The Water Surrounding The Inferno, Men's Heads Could Be Seen Bobbing Like Apples As Their Scalps Burned With The Heat. At The Centre Stood, At Least For Now, The Piper Alpha Oil Platform, 110 Miles Northeast Of Aberdeen, Once The World's Single Largest Oil Producer. On 6 July 1988, Its Final Day, It Was Ablaze With 226 Men Onboard. Only Sixty-one Would Survive. Fire In The Night Tells, For The First Time And In Gripping Detail, The Devastating Story Of The World's Worst Offshore Oil Disaster. In A Narrative That Combines Interviews With Survivors, Witness Statements And Testimony From The Official Inquiry Into The Disaster, Fire In The Night Reveals The Human Stories Of Bravery And Loss Within The Unfolding Tragedy.--book Jacket. Prologue -- Part One: One Year Earlier -- Portrait Of An Artist As A Young Rigger -- 'god's Last Chance For The British' -- One In Ten Thousand Years -- Part Two: 6 July 1988 -- The Long Day's Journey Into Night -- Anatomy Of An Inferno -- 'getting Bad' -- 'hands To Emergency Stations' -- 'bloody Hell! This Is Serious' -- Feeding The Flames -- The Long Drop -- Adrift In The Dark -- The End Of All Things -- Charging The Flames -- Part Three: Onshore -- Long Night's Journey Into Day -- The Prime Minister, The Prince And The 'hammer' -- Sifting The Ashes -- Raising The Dead -- Paying For The Piper -- The Cullen Inquiry -- Cogs In The Broken Machine -- Epilogue. Stephen Mcginty. Includes Index.