Workers plucked from sinking rig

NICOSIA, Cyprus - An international rescue operation has successfully plucked oil workers from a rig sinking in rough seas.

A helicopter from an Italian frigate, Aliseo, airlifted to safety all 84 people on board the American rig.

The 6,347 tonne Key Singapore rig, owned by the Global Santa Fe International Corporation, is sinking in waters between Cyprus and Israel.

Lloyd's Shipping Intelligence told Reuters news agency a distress call was received from the rig on Tuesday.

The call asked for helicopters to evacuate the rig after tow-lines securing it to tug boats snapped in the bad weather.

Two British helicopters and a Cypriot police helicopters are also involved in the rescue as are two U.S. vessels, one of them being the frigate USS Ross.

NATO spokesman Tim Dunne told Reuters news agency the rig workers were taken to the Ross, which is now heading to the northern Israeli port of Haifa.

Rob Need, a spokesman for British military bases in Cyprus, said the rig was 30 miles (48 km) off the coast of Israel and 150 miles (241 km) south-east of Cyprus.

He added that the rescue was taking place in very low cloud, rain and high winds and a 27 foot sea swell.

The rig was being transferred from one drilling site to another off Port Said in Egypt, when it began sinking, Arieh Rona, head of the Israeli Shipping and Ports Administration, told The Associated Press news agency.

Paul Patten, spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Israel, said that 77 Egyptians, four Britons, two Americans and a Dane were rescued.