A fire on a Caspian Sea oil rig that killed at least two people continued to burn out of control on Monday, as authorities searched for some 30 workers still missing, Azerbaijan authorities said.

The fire started Friday evening after a natural-gas pipeline was ruptured during a storm that sent waves as high as 30 feet crashing against a rig, authorities said. No information was given about the extent of the pipeline leakage.

Heavy storm conditions prevented some workers from escaping in lifeboats, according to a joint statement from the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, or Socar, and the Azeri Ministry of Emergency Situations. One lifeboat broke loose from its fastening and dropped the workers into the Caspian Sea, they said.

Socar and the government said 32 people had been saved, two have died and more than 30 are still missing.

The rig is known as Platform Number 10 of the Guneshli oil field, which is about 60 to 70 miles east of Baku. The fire is thought to have spread to the oil and gas wells of the platform, and 28 wells were shut down to contain the incident, authorities said.