Piper Alpha: 'I thought I pushed him over the edge, I thought I killed him': Survivor of oil rig disaster relives the fear and panic 25 years later Roy Thomson, 48, thought the man he shoved when he leapt from the inferno had died and has lived with the guilt ever since the disaster After reading a book on the tragic day, he learnt he shoved Mike Jennings Now reunited, Mr Jennings said being pushed may have saved his life For 25 years, Roy Thomson thought he had accidentally killed a fellow oil-rigger on Piper Alpha when he ran through thick black smoke and leapt from the blazing rig. Unable to see, and his boots melting, Mr Thomson charged into another man at the edge of the rig's platform, shoving him over the side. Together they tumbled and plummeted 120ft into the North Sea. While he doesn't remember hitting the water, he recalls the fall felt like a long time; he then remembers the struggle and 'panic' to get back to the surface. Inferno The Piper Alpha rig, in the North Sea, became a raging fireball after an explosion 25 years ago. Of the 228 people on board, 167 died Mr Thomson, who was 23 at the time, clung onto the man he thought he'd accidentally pushed off the Piper Alpha oil rig, 120 miles off Aberdeen, which exploded in 1988. But he was filled with horror when he realised the man he was clinging to was dead. 'I held on to a guy in the water for a while, thinking it was the man I'd pushed off. He was the only person close to me when I came back to the surface. But it turned out I was clutching a dead body,' Mr Thomson told The Mirror. Firefighters battled for days to bring the flames under control Aid: Men, wrapped in blankets after hours in the North Sea, are helped to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after being rescued from the explosion on Piper Alpha; they were two of just 61 survivors On that tragic day, 167 of the 228 people aboard the oil rig perished, either from the inferno that engulfed the entire rig, or from drowning in the perilous North Sea. Survivors' guilt took over Mr Thomson but also the terror that he had killed someone; for 25 years he has believed he was responsible for another man's death. It wasn't until he recently read the book Fire in the Night, that Roy finally got a clue about the identity of the stranger he pushed off the edge. Mr Thomson, now 48, of Keith, in Moray, said a passage in the book says a man came out of the smoke screaming that he was on fire and pushed off Mike Jennings from the edge. He then went to the premiere of the book's film, in which Mike Jennings appears, 72, which cemented his belief that this was the man he took over the edge that night. Trauma: Survivors Erland Grieve, left, and Andy Morchan, right, recovering at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, were visited by Dr Armand Hammer, the then 90-year-old chairman of the rig company, Occidental Petroleum This week, Mr Thomson and Mr Jennings were reunited for the first time since the fateful and tragic night - and found they have lived just 25 miles from each other for the last 22 years. Mr Jennings, from Findhorn, Moray, who was 47 at the time, told Mr Thomson he had been deliberating jumping when someone shoved him over the edge, taking the decision of of his hands. They now think the shove may have saved his life, since moments later the entire rig was engulfed in flames. My Thomson, a father of four, told the paper: 'I can finally put my mind at rest. It has laid to rest a few ghosts for him and me. Fireball: Gallons of water were jetted onto the blazing rig which killed 167 people when it exploded The explosion ripped through the gas and oil rig, turning it into a raging inferno Tragic: Those aboard the Piper Alpha were faced with the having to jump more than 120 feet off the blazing platform into the perilous North Sea It is 25 years to the day since the tragic disaster on the Piper-Alpha rig. One woman who will be missing her father more than ever when she marries her fiancee soon, is Kerri Henderson. She was born just eight days after her father David Henderson was killed on the rig. He was not supposed to be there - he was working an extra week so he could take more time off once Kerri was born. Tragically he died that night, leaving grieving mother Maureen, now 54, alone and seven months pregnant. Survivors: Roy Thomson, 48, left, thought he had killed the man he showed over the edge when he leapt from the burning platform, but 25 years later and he has learnt he actually saved Mike Jennings's life, right Mike Jennings, pictured on his wedding day to Dorean two years before the disaster, and right with Roy Thomson, who may have saved his life, reunited 25 years later She said Kerri arrival was sad because David was not there with her to see his daughter, but happy as she had a part of David in her life again. Mrs Henderson told the paper her daughter is uncannily like her late husband, with the same 'easygoing nature and mannerisms'. Dave Lambert, another survivor, had only been on the rig five hours when the disaster struck. Missed: David Henderson, left, was killed on the rig, eight days before his daughter Kerri, right was born. Kerri's mother said David would have been very proud to see his daughter marry Stuart Ingham, right Shortly after a induction briefing, where he was told the rig was the 'safest platform on the North Sea', the huge oil and gas explosion turned the rig into a fireball. Engulfed by the flames Mr Lambert instinctively leapt from the rig. He said jumping into the unknown was better than being burned alive. On Friday, to commemorate the 25th anniversary since the tragic disaster, a ceremony was held at the Memorial Gardens in Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen. Memorial: Hundreds of friends and relatives of the 167 people who died on the Piper Alpha rig attended a ceremony on Friday at the Memorial Gardens in Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen Impact: The disaster affected everyone in the town of Aberdeen, some said, with everyone knowing either family or friends who lost loved ones A woman points out the name of one of the deceased to a small child on a memorial in the park's gardens, during the ceremony in Aberdeen