By Alex Dobuzinskis
April 11 (Reuters) - Six Greenpeace activists rappelled downfrom an oil rig in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday after spendingsix days living on the structure to protest drilling in theArctic, the environmental organization said.
The multinational team climbed aboard Polar Pioneer, an oilrig leased by Royal Dutch Shell Plc that is bound forthe Arctic, on Monday as it was being transported by aheavy-lift vessel about 750 miles (1,207 km) northwest ofHawaii. Two days later, the company filed a complaint in federalcourt in Alaska seeking an order to remove the activists.
Worsening weather conditions that were expected to bringhigh swells led the six activists to leave the oil rig onSaturday, a Greenpeace representative said in an email.
They climbed down into inflatable boats and returned to theGreenpeace ship Esperanza, which had been stationed in the areain recent days and which had brought the activists out into thePacific Ocean for the protest.
Shell had said the protesters had jeopardized the safety ofthemselves and the crew assigned to the oil rig.
A representative from Shell could not immediately be reachedfor comment on Saturday.
Greenpeace said its team of activists did not interfere withthe crew transporting the oil rig. The organization had earliersaid on its website that the activists had enough supplies tolast for several days on the rig.
"I might be climbing off this oil rig, but this is merely atransition into the next step of saving the Arctic," AmericanAliyah Field, one of the six activists, said in a statement. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing byMarguerita Choy)