Brazil oil rig straightened

Some workers jumped into the ocean as the ship tilted

A listing offshore oil rig in Brazil has begun to right itself after workers pumped sea water into empty tanks, the state-owned oil giant Petrobras says.

The company says the operation has reduced the tilt of the rig, which was on the brink of collapse following an accident on Sunday.

The stabilisation is important to allow the access of more people to the platform to try to restart the power system

Rui Fonseca, Petrobras

Brazilian authorities have launched an investigation into the accident, which started after a failure in the rig's electronic systems.

The P-34 rig, a converted oil tanker, lies about 100 kilometres (60 miles) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state - close to where Petrobras' largest oil rig sank last year.

Working through the night, Petrobras technicians pumped water into tanks in the hull of ship-mounted platform.

The operation continued on Tuesday, reducing the angle of inclination to 26 degrees, the company said.

"The stabilisation is important to allow the access of more people to the platform to try to restart the power system," Rui Fonseca of Petrobras told Reuters news agency.

Correspondents say that once the power is on, the onboard system should be able to return balance to the ship more easily.

Second accident

Built in 1995, P-34 is the firm's oldest ship-based platform.

It contains 12,000 cubic metres (three million gallons) of oil.

Officials say no oil has leaked into the sea so far, but specialist teams are standing by.

There was no fire or explosion, and all 76 workers were evacuated to nearby platforms off Brazil's south-eastern coast.

The incident threatened to sink Petrobras' second rig in just 20 months.

The firm's biggest offshore rig was destroyed in March 2001, after a series of explosions that killed 11 crew.