Glasgow Evening News: Inquiry into rig workers’ deaths
“After the tragedy, operators Shell revised safety procedures and maintenance issues, admitting there were shortcomings.”
Posted 20 July 2005
AN inquiry will be held into the deaths of two North Sea oil workers.
Lord Advocate Colin Boyd announced – after “personal consideration” – a Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held, reversing an earlier decision.
Sean McCue, 22, from Fife, and Keith Moncrieff, 45, from Invergowrie, near Dundee, were working on the Brent Bravo platform when they were overcome by a sudden release of gas in 2003. A doctor was flown in from a nearby rig but the men could not be saved.
After the tragedy, operators Shell revised safety procedures and maintenance issues, admitting there were shortcomings.
Originally, it was decided not to go ahead with an inquiry, and Shell was fined a record £900,000 for its part in the tragedy at Stonehaven Sheriff Court in March this year.
The procurator-fiscal will now apply to the sheriff for the inquiry to be held.
Offshore oil union OILC welcomed the news of the inquiry but acknowledged it may be a painful experience for the victims’ families.
A spokesman said: “We hope it will bring final closure for the families, while answering the many questions that still surround the tragedy.”
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
