courtesy NOAA

North Sea divers seeking compensation for themselves and families of divers in the Norwgian Supreme Court heard the government lawyer’s opening statement on Monday:

“Both helicopter pilots, fishermen and inland industrial divers have a higher risk of losing their lives on the job than offshore divers,” Crown attorney, Christian Reusch was quoted by Stavanger Aftenbladet as saying in opening statements. The Crown rejected responsibility for dozens of diver injuries and deaths since Norway’s “oil adventure” began in the early 70’s.

Eighteen divers are seeking NOK150 million (USD29 million) in damages.

North Sea divers in Norway had long ago received money for construed losses from then Statoil, StatoilHydro’s predecessor. Now, a determined core of divers allege state regulators knew of certain hazards to divers and ignored them to speed Norway’s deeper offshore developments.

They seek compensation for those who died on the job while saturation diving using what they say were outdated or otherwise hazardous tables governing the mixing of gases and recovery times for divers working long shifts at extreme depths.