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In Amenas update — 09.30 on January 19

January 19, 2013, 09:30 CET
Bilde

The In Amenas facility in Algeria.

This means that a total of 11 of the 17 Statoil employees who were located at the In Amenas plant have been brought to safety.

One of the persons brought to safety during the night has been transported out of Algeria and is now en route to Norway. The other will be transported out over the course of Saturday.

The person who was brought to safety on Thursday night arrived in Bergen on Friday. He has minor injuries, is in stable condition and is receiving medical treatment at Haukeland University Hospital.

The group of five Statoil In Amenas employees that landed in Bergen on Friday is now being followed up at the centre for family members. The transport of non-critical personnel out of Algeria has now been carried out.

This means that we have now transported a total of 51 people out of Algeria. The last two people are either in transit or about to start their journey home.

All of those involved have experienced extreme stress.   

The situation in In Amenas is still unresolved and there is limited access to the area. This also sets limits on access to verified information from the site.

What is already clear is that this is an unimaginable tragedy. As one of the joint owners of the facility, Statoil expresses its sympathy for all of those affected.

Hundreds of people of different nationalities were carrying out work at the facility. These people represent various companies of various sizes. Statoil feels for everyone involved in this situation.

We are currently working to bring clarity to the situation of our remaining six employees and bring them to safety.

Statoil continues to work with the Norwegian government and BP to ensure access to appropriate medical personnel for the hostages and an effective evacuation from In Amenas.

We have been informed during the morning hours that the Stratevac aircraft that Norwegian authorities have sent to Algeria will be utilised in the In Amenas rescue work.

We are following up our local employees in Algeria as much as possible and ensuring that they receive the necessary assistance in a very difficult situation.

Our own crisis team arrived in Algiers yesterday and has been working through the night together with the local emergency response organisation. This means that we have now strengthened our emergency response organisation in a number of important areas.