A vessel operated by Greenpeace arrived in the waters near an oil and gas drilling rig owned by energy giant Total to observe the environmental impacts of a gas leak that has been ongoing since March 25th off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea.

 

"We are here because oil companies often withhold information on accidents," said Christian Bussau, chief scientist and ocean expert at Greenpeace. "We want to get our own picture of the environmental damage from the scene."

Meanwhile, clean up efforts by Total were hampered by heavy seas and rough weather.

On March 25 over two hundred workers were evacuated from the platform, located about 150 miles off the Scottish coast, and a two-mile exclusion zone was set up around the site, while fire-fighting ships remained on standby in case of an explosion.