Smoke rises from the wrecked oil platform Piper Alpha, foreground, in the North Sea, Thursday, July 7, 1988, following an ...

The oil industry’s worst nightmare came true on July 6, 1988. The Piper Alpha oil platform suffered a catastrophic explosion, leaving most workers trapped in an inferno at sea. This disaster led ...

Flames and smoke still leap from the oil platform Piper Alpha off northeast Scotland, Thursday, July 7, 1988, after the rig was blown apart by a flash fire late Wednesday night, feared to have ...