Published: Tuesday, 8th July, 2008 10:10
Disaster survivor breaks silence
By Mike Farrell
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The Piper Alpha disaster
THE horror of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters is still fresh in the mind of a man who watched on helplessly, as it unfolded before his eyes.
Two decades on from the Piper Alpha catastrophe, which killed 167 people, Liam Hegarty can remember it “as if it was just yesterday”.
When the oil rig went up in flames, the 56-year-old was in a support vessel helplessly watching as men fought for their lives in the inferno, unable to do anything to for his friends and fellow workers.
Now, on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, Liam has spoken publicly about his experience for the first time.
The father-of-four told the Reporter: “It is so vivid in my head, it is embedded in my memory now — there’s rarely a day goes by when I don’t think about it at some point.
“There were guys jumping off the heli-pad of the Piper into the water, and I can remember a group of men climbing up the side, and just as they were about to reach safety it all collapsed into a fire ball.
“It is something I will never forget, and speaking to anybody about it who wasn’t there is quite hard. It’s impossible for others to comprehend just how bad it was.”
The Piper Alpha disaster on July 6 1988, remains the single worst offshore atrocity in history.
In the mass confusion of the immediate aftermath of the Piper tragedy, Liam’s wife Helen was given devastating news, which was thankfully wrong.
Liam, from Bonhill, spoke of this: “My wife called the helpline for the disaster the morning after and was told I was missing, presumed dead.
“When I got back to land I called her that afternoon and we just broke down on the phone together.
“But it was like I was already dead.
“I didn’t lose any loved ones in the fire, but I definitely lost part of myself in it.”
Liam, who at the time was a painter on the rig, could not work for 10 years after the horrendous events, as post traumatic stress and flashbacks from the night haunted him.
But, with the help of Helen and children Paul, Kevin, Michael and Deborah, Liam managed to get back to work 10 years ago.
He now works in construction and has never worked off shore since.
He told the Reporter of his family’s support.
Liam took refuge on the Tharos platform, which could not get nearer than 30 feet to the Piper rig as fire engulfed it.
As he struggled to cope with the terror of that night, Liam was also dragged through a strenuous legal battle for compensation.
Liam said: “I really lost faith in the legal system, I was going through hell because of what happened, and the system just absolutely failed me, and others like me.
“The money wouldn’t have compensated for what happened, but it was to try and help my family.
“The situation with the lawyers was just another slap in the face, I was sold down the river.
“It’s something that I wouldn’t want to see again, but should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.”
In the end, Liam sued the lawyers who initially represented him in the case, winning very little after a fight which lasted 15 years.
Although in the past 10 years Liam has got his life back together, he can still feel the presence of the disaster every day. Liam said: “I feel for the victims and their families as I can remember it all so clearly, as if it happened yesterday.”
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