KIELLAND-NETTVERKET
Welcome to the support group Kielland-Network!
We are the board, representing the survivors and the bereaved after the Alexander L. Kielland disaster on March 27th, 1980. It remains Norway’s largest industrial disaster in peacetime, where 123 oil workers were killed and 89 barely survived, scarred for life. Between 300 and 400 children lost their father that day.
The Kielland disaster remains, to this day, our great national trauma.
After nearly 46 years, we have finally secured a parliamentary decision for state compensation to the victims — that is, the survivors and the bereaved.
We are now in a critical phase of our work to determine the amount and timing of the compensation payments. This requires intensive efforts with members of Parliament, and therefore frequent meetings in Oslo.
The board of the Kielland-Network support group, from left:
Gudny Hansen, Anders Helliksen (chairman),
Åse Kringlebotn, Roy Erling Furre, Jorunn Birkeland
and Merete Haslund. Photo: Private.
Without a single krone in state operating support, we are entirely dependent on contributions from our members and others who wish to help us — whether private individuals, trade unions, companies, or municipalities.
Here’s how you can support us; thank you so much in advance:
Vipps to 595202 or transfer to bank account: 3201 19 79679
(enter your name and email address as the payment reference)
Detailed bankinformation here.
We are happy to acknowledge support beyond membership here on our website, if desired.
Alexander Kielland disaster March 27 1980
On March 27, 1980, the oil platform “Alexander L. Kielland” capsized. This was the largest industrial accident in Norwegian history, 123 people died, of whom 30 were never found and 89 survived with physical and/or mental injuries. Several hundred children lost their father.
Facts about the Alexander L. Kielland accident:
123 died 89 survived.
Alexander L. The Kielland platform sank at a depth of 700 meters in the Nedstrandsfjorden on November 18, 1983.
The Kielland disaster occurred on March 27, 1980, on the Ekofisk field in the North Sea. One of the rig's five legs fell off, and after only 20 minutes the platform was upside down in rough seas. 123 people lost their lives and 89 survivors were marked for life. 30 of the dead were never found.
The cause of the accident, according to the investigation commission, was a fatigue fracture in a support strut in the platform's load-bearing structure. This caused one of the five pillars (platform legs) with a pontoon (floating element) that supported the platform to break off. After about 20 minutes, the platform capsized.
After several attempts to turn the rig, it was turned over in September 1983, and six of the then 36 missing people were found aboard the rig after it was stabilized on September 12.
The composition and work of the Commission of Inquiry have subsequently been heavily criticized. Several, including the Office of the Auditor General, believe it is reprehensible that the authorities involved Det Norske Veritas in both the investigation work and the operation to turn the rig around, as they were a party to the case – and because their independence could thus be questioned.
In addition, criticism has been raised from various circles against the commission's lack of analysis of how various factors and conditions interacted during the course of events. Among other things, this criticism concerns the lack of assessment of stability after water ingress through open doors and hatches that should have been closed, and the significance this had in causing the rig to capsize after only 20 minutes.
ABOUT US
THE KIELLAND-NETWORK!
The Kielland Network is the support group for survivors and bereaved of the Kielland disaster in 1980, working for the best possible health and quality of life for the Kielland victims. We also seek government compensation and answers to unknown circumstances surrounding the incident and responsibility.
THE BOARD
* Anders Helliksen, chairman and suvivor
* Merete Haslund, deputy chairman - lost her father
* Gudny Hansen, lost her father at Kielland
* Jorunn Birkeland, trade union NITO
* Roy Erling Furre, trade union SAFE
* Åse Kringlebotn, responsible for member relation
NEWS
NO THE STATE'S RESONSIBILITY?
If you drive a car that hasn’t been registered by the road authorities (=the government) and you run over a person who dies, that’s negligent homicide.
If you send 212 oil workers out to a living quarters platform that the authorities have not approved as living quarters, and the platform collapses and 123 are killed—then surely you are responsible for 123 negligent homicides?
Yet this had no consequences for the Labour Party, which governed when this horror actually happened with the living quarters platform Alexander Kiellandon March 27th, 1980.
No politicians have spoken about this publicly for almost 46 years; rather, this—along with all the other truths about the Kielland disaster—has been swept under the rug, covered up, and shrouded in secrecy through hidden papers and archives.
Even though the Office of the Auditor General mentioned the lack of approval in its report on Kielland from 2021 (page 85).
“The politicians only read the conclusion,” they said at the Auditor General’s office when our board met them this fall. “But then we expect it to be included in the conclusion this time!” we said. Because now our case—and the state’s responsibility—was again the subject of a new round with the Auditor General.
The Auditor General has now reviewed a new research report from UiS, where the lack of approval is again mentioned. The assignment from Parliament was to assess the state’s responsibility in light of this new insight.
The report from the University of Stavanger (UiS) is part of the so-called Documentation Project on Kielland, where the mandate from Parliament was that documentation should be gathered from the perspective of the survivors and the bereaved (!).
The conclusion came from the Auditor General on December 16th,
and of course we expected that the lack of approval would be mentioned in the conclusion this time. So that the politicians could finally have it served on a silver platter: There should never have been people out on Kielland on March 27th, 1980, because the platform was not approved! 123 young fathers, husbands, and sons should never have been exposed to negligent homicide! And we 89 who barely survived—we would never have gone out there if we had known about the lack of approval, which was indisputably the state’s responsibility! And the state’s responsibility to clean up!
The Auditor General maintained that the state did not have the main responsibility for the Kielland “accident.” But to include in the conclusion that the state had overarching responsibility for sending 212 men into death and eternal nightmares—that apparently isn’t considered a big enough part of the state’s responsibility?
Now Parliament will soon decide: Will the Kielland victims finally receive decent and fair compensation for all those who were killed and for us survivors whose lives have been severely damaged?
The North Sea divers and war veterans received compensation of 65G, and this constitutes legal precedent for the Kielland victims to also be compensated with 65G.
Anders Helliksen
Chairman of the Kielland Network and survivor.
19. desember 2025
MEMBERSHIP
250 NOK for survivors, their family members, widows and children, with their family members (more if you can).
SUPPORTING MEMBER
We are very grateful that you want to support us.
250 NOK but more if you can!
PAYMENT
VIPPS to 595202 and write your name and email address as an explanation. If you are paying for more than one person, write who, with name and email.
or
Bank acount: 3201.19.79679.
IBAN NO45 3201.19.79679.
Also write your name and email address here as an explanation.
Thank you for wanting to be a member!
Greetings THE BOARD
Sannhet, forsoning, respekt, åpenhet og fellesskap på tvers av politisk ståsted og livssyn.