Woman's dream of bomb results in oil rig evacuation
A woman who works on an oil rig in the North Sea had a dream that a bomb was on the platform. When she was overheard recalling the dream, it resulted in an evacuation.
Link (Thanks, Matt!)
A Grampian Police spokesman last night said: "The female is expected to appear at Aberdeen sheriff court on Monday in connection with the matter."
Earlier police confirmed that they were treating the incident as a false alarm, adding that a 23-year-old woman was being brought ashore for questioning.
...
[Jake Molloy, general secretary of the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee] said: "It appears that the whole thing was started when someone was a bit upset about a dream they had and that appears to have sparked one of the biggest security operations the North Sea has ever seen. The cost has been astronomical and there was never any need for it." He said he felt sorry for the woman who appeared to be at the centre of the alarm.
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The Power of Dreams!
This reminds me of the Thought Police. I hope nothing bad happens to this woman.
It sounds like an unfortunate chain of events here, but I am sure they take these things seriously. Like joking about bombs when getting on a plane. There should be some common sense, though, when it was determined she really was only talking about a dream. Taken off to appear in court? Come on.
I feel sorry for the head of security who evacuate the platform just because somebody overheard a dream. Why he dosen't talk with the woman first? It's not the woman fault/responsablity, it was his.
"In my dreams, I'm the wizard-master!"
Honestly, I think they should chalk the whole thing up to an "effective training exercise" and call it a day. :)
Who overheard and started the rumour?
The US, UK and Canada governments should cooperate. This young terrorist lady should be thrown into Gitmo, together with that "tripod"-carrying guy and ATHF-sign guys. Mod me troll. (ah, this ain't slashdot =)
I love the cop's quote that "the incident...is not considered terrorism related."
Didn't he see the South Park "Imaginationland" trilogy?
Clearly terrorists attacked this poor girl's imagination. Quick, someone find Kurt Russell!
@gobi desert
Doesn't it depend on what taken off to appear in court means? I would think any disaster of miscommunication like this -should- require the actors involved to testify as to what happened in some manner.
OK, so why would it be the womans fault? Wouldn't it be the douchebag who overheard and took it for being real then reporting it?
@4 You arn't related to BloodNinja by any chance?
I hope the idiot who took her discussion of her DREAM out of context is the one charged, if anyone is. Unfortunately in the uber-paranoid society which we now inhabit her life is probably as screwed as the poor fellow (I forget his name, but he's dead now) who found the backpack full of explosives at the Atlanta Olympics.
The War on Common Sense marches forward, irregardless of what any whinging lefties may spout here.
(I'm a highly confused individual)
Something similar happened to me once. Waiting in line to see an action movie, talking about action movies and related things... somebody hears a few words and decides that me and my friends were armed and prepared to blow up the theater...
Paranoid twits who can't even be bothered to evesdrop properly need to be isolated from the rest of us.
@eh I put on my robe and wizard hat...
The call of Cthulhu is rising from the deep, from the mighty sunken city of R'lyeh under the waters, affecting our dreams, bringing him alive. Be very afraid!
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
the Old Ones had a Moderator?
#13 JBANG
please tell me you used and italicized irregardless for grins..
#17
clever :)
who would dare disemvowel the ancient ones? bng bng prbbly :D
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/11/the_war_on_the.html
Why does this in no way surprise me?
My brother once sleepwalked across to me shouting "Get out, Get out! There's a bomb on the plane!". He was quite insistent, but thankfully we were at home and no-one overheard...
The BBC were reporting a woman 'acting suspiciously' on Sunday when the incident occurred. At the time I wondered how difficult it was to get onto or off an oil rig without the company knowing about it (it's very difficult unless you're an experienced frogman who can climb slime encrusted steel, or James Bond). That it's been brought about by a member of staff having a panic attack is a ridiculous overreaction by a lot of people who should know better. Once upon a time there used to be a thing called disaster management, which could cover anything from a sporting event being rained off to a skyscraper catching fire. Now we just shit ourselves and run around screaming about terrorism. Another victory in the War on Terrorism. By the terrorists.
It's hardly her fault that she had a dream about a bomb on board. It must have been her father. Ah, the ultimate excuse: the reality made me do it! Sir, she's going to the alpha again. Oh no!
#17 & #19 Is that a reference to "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart or am I being delusional?
A few years back I was discussing the most effective method of bombing my local shopping paradise (my solution: Claymores strung in ceiling struts) over a beer at a student bar. No, this wasn't a serious discussion, rather going through all kinds of evil scenarios just for the hell of it.
An hour later 7 people died in an explosion at a Helsinki mall (a homemade claymore went off in a crowd - probably by accident).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myyrmanni_bombing
Several people overheard our discussion. Had this happened in the US, I'd rather not imagine the consequences.
Greetings
So now we all of us live in 'Mayberry RFD' with 'Deputy Barney Fife' in charge of our security
Tripod guns and dream bombs but sadly no 'Sheriff Andy' take away Barney's bullet and stop the foolishness
Dump out you water and take off your shoes sheeple it only gets worse from here
Enjoy the journey
WarLord
Girls and their dreams! I get scolded all the time by my girlfriend for things that I do in her dreams.
I've got it: the person she told about the dream thought they were characters in The Lathe of Heaven.
(UK LeGuin)
The War on Sanity: it's going on everywhere.
(remind me not to bring up that dream where I was Penny from the original "Lost in Space" and I was attacked by giant human skeletons with duck feet-- who knows WHAT the authorities will think of that!).
Makes me wonder how we Brits (and Irish!) just got on with things through several decades of occasional (US-funded) terrorist bombings...
No one lost their minds and started a war on an abstract noun. No one decided you couldn't take baby milk on a plane. No one decided to go pick on a random foreign country and destroy it just because we felt a bit peeved. Tsk.
#26 Just pure HP Lovecraft. Was sick this weekend, read "The Call of Cthulhu" to pass the time and the whole maritime aspect of being on a oil well platform having weird dreams struck me as funny when I read about this yesterday. Maybe Cthulhu wants our oil.
#32 Has to do with being told to keep a stiff upper lip and to pull up your britches and get done what needs to be done while you're growing up. My German/Irish/English ancestors expected us to tuck in and deal with whatever life threw at us. I just don't get the whole quivering thighs, wobbling legs aspect of this war on a word world I'm living in now. Some of us are still sane but are being driven nuts by the types who snort at a piece of rope laying on the ground, leap 10 feet in the air and start yelling "Snake!"
#26 ditto #33 :)
H.P.Lovecraft Call of Cthulhu full text.