LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A cargo ship adrift in a stormy North Sea narrowly missed a second gas platform early on Friday, the British coastguard said.

"The good news is that the vehicle has missed the platform," a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said, referring to the unmanned Caister structure operated by ConocoPhillips <COP.N>.

The stricken vessel, Vindo, missed the platform by just 800 yards (730 metres) at a few minutes past midnight (0000 GMT), having floated past another installation, Murdoch, a couple of hours earlier.

Both platforms lie in the southern North Sea about 43 miles off Britain's east coast.

The Murdoch gas platform had been evacuated as a precaution and production halted.

The Vindo, carrying 4,200 tonnes of fertiliser and registered in Antigua and Barbuda, was drifting free from other gas platforms for now and the nine-strong crew onboard were still trying to start its engine, the spokeswoman said.

A tug had been dispatched to help tow the vessel and would be with it at about 0900 GMT.

AlertNet news is provided by

Delicio.us  |   Digg  |   NewsVine  |   Reddit                                                                                  Permalink