Story highlights One worker for Statoil/COSL killed when huge wave hits rig

BP and ConocoPhillips oil fields evacuated as barge drifts in violent seas

Barge became unattached while being towed by a tugboat in rough weather

(CNN) Violent weather in the North Sea killed an oil worker for a Norwegian firm and prompted oil companies to evacuate workers after a barge broke loose in the storm.

Statoil, a Norwegian company, and COSL -- China Oilfield Services Limited -- issued a statement saying they had learned "with great sadness" that one person had died and two were injured when a wave broke over a drilling rig Wednesday.

The rig, called the COSL Innovator, is under contract to Statoil at the Troll field in the North Sea, west of Bergen, a city on Norway's southwestern coast.

The injured people have been taken by helicopter to shore, the statement said.

Barge drifting north in violent seas

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