Rescue teams in Gabon have discovered three bodies inside the wreckage of an offshore oil rig that sank off the country’s southern coast, while efforts continue to locate two people who remain missing.
The discovery was announced by Gabonese authorities on Thursday, October 29, 2026, following underwater inspections of the sunken Prospector 5 drilling platform. The vessel went down on Saturday evening near Mayumba, leaving five of the 115 people on board initially unaccounted for.
Charles Hubert Bekale-Meyong, Chief of Staff of the Gabonese Navy, said underwater remotely operated robots helped locate the bodies. However, images captured during the operation were not clear enough to establish the identities of the victims.
Authorities said recovery teams were preparing to retrieve the bodies from the submerged structure so that formal identification could take place.
What Happened to the Prospector 5 Oil Rig?
The Prospector 5, owned and operated by offshore drilling contractor Borr Drilling, sank on Saturday, October 24, during preparations for a planned drilling campaign in waters off southern Gabon.
The incident occurred in the Dussafu Marin offshore permit area, close to the Mabomont production facility near Mayumba.
According to the company, preliminary findings indicated that a structural instability event during preload activities caused the platform to lose stability before sinking.
There were 115 people aboard when the disaster occurred. While 110 workers were rescued and brought to safety, five were initially reported missing.
The rig had been contracted to support offshore operations for BW Energy, a Norwegian oil and gas company with interests in Gabon. It had not yet started the planned drilling work when the accident happened.
Five People Were Initially Missing After the Sinking
Before the latest discovery, Gabonese authorities had reported five people missing from the incident.
One of them, an Indian national, had already been declared dead based on information gathered from survivors, although his body had not been recovered. The other four missing workers were identified as three Gabonese nationals and one Croatian citizen.
With three bodies now located inside the wreckage, two people remain unaccounted for. However, authorities have not confirmed whether the Indian national previously presumed dead is among the bodies discovered.
Gabon Launches Investigation Into Oil Rig Disaster
Gabon’s Minister of Petroleum and Gas, Clotaire Kondja, ordered a technical investigation to establish what caused the platform to sink and determine whether any parties should be held responsible.
The investigation is expected to examine the circumstances surrounding the platform’s structural failure during preparations for the planned drilling operation.
Borr Drilling has been working with BW Energy and Gabonese authorities on the response to the incident, including search operations and measures to address possible environmental consequences.
Concerns Over Possible Environmental Damage
The sinking has also raised concerns about the potential impact on marine life and coastal communities.
Borr Drilling disclosed that approximately 280 cubic metres of marine diesel fuel were aboard the Prospector 5 when it went down.
The company said resources had been mobilised in coordination with its client and local authorities to limit possible environmental damage.
Gabonese authorities have also maintained pollution-response measures to protect the coastline and the nearby Mayumba National Park. The area is environmentally significant, making the monitoring of possible fuel leakage an important part of the recovery operation.
Search Operations Continue
The discovery of three bodies represents an important development in the recovery operation, but the search is not over.
Authorities are continuing efforts to locate the two remaining missing workers while arrangements are being made to recover and identify the bodies found inside the submerged platform.
The disaster has drawn attention to offshore oil and gas safety in Gabon, a major petroleum-producing country in Central Africa. The findings of the technical investigation could provide further information about the circumstances surrounding the sinking and whether additional safety measures are necessary.
For the families of those still missing, the priority remains recovering their loved ones and establishing exactly what happened aboard the Prospector 5
