Borr Drilling’s Prospector 5 drilling rig sank late on Oct. 24 off the coast of Mayumba in Gabon after a punch-through event during preload operations, leaving five personnel unaccounted for as search teams worked through the night. The company said 115 people were on board when the jackup lost stability and went down.
Bruno Morand said the company’s immediate priority was the welfare of the crew and support for the ongoing search and rescue efforts. In a later statement, Borr Drilling said 110 personnel had been safely accounted for, while five remained missing and no fatalities had been confirmed. That account followed an earlier report that said one employee had died and four others were missing, underscoring how quickly the picture around the sinking was still shifting.
The incident took place in the Dussafu Marin permit area near the MaBoMo production facility, where the rig had not yet begun drilling and was preparing for a planned campaign supporting BW Energy’s operations. Borr Drilling said one of the rig’s legs unexpectedly penetrated the seabed during jacking and preload work, causing a loss of stability that sent the vessel under. The company activated its onshore emergency response team and said it was coordinating with local authorities, the Gabonese navy and BW Energy.
Gabon’s Ministry of Petroleum and Gas then activated a crisis unit involving the ministry, the navy, Gabon Oil, BW Energy and Borr Drilling, while Clotaire Kondja ordered intensified search and rescue at sea and a technical investigation. The ministry said the accident happened around 21:40 local time. BW Energy said production at the MaBoMo offshore facility was shut down under standard procedures for drilling preparations, though it reported no damage to the facility and no discharge of harmful substances into the sea.
The unanswered question is no longer whether the rig sank — it did — but whether all five unaccounted-for personnel will be found and what investigators conclude caused the seabed failure that brought Prospector 5 down. Until that is known, the case remains a live rescue operation, not a closed accident.
