At least four people were killed and 45 were injured in a fire that broke out on an offshore oil rig in Mexico early Wednesday, Reuters reports.
The blaze leading to the evacuation of 302 workers erupted overnight on the Abkatun Permanente platform run by the Mexican state-owned company Pemex.
Pemex said that one of the fatalities was from their company and another was a contractor for Mexican oilfield service company Cotemar with the other two yet to be identified.
The fire broke out in the dehydration and pumping area of the platform, the Mexican state-run company said, adding that the cause of the blast was not identified yet. There was no oil spill, a company spokesman said.
This is the latest in a series of accidents Pemex has had in recent years. In 2013, at least 37 people were killed by a blast at Pemex’s Mexico City headquarters, and another 26 people died in a fire at a Pemex natural gas facility in northern Mexico in September 2012.
Last year the Mexican government passed a reform to privatise parts of its national oil company, but the recent oil price slump has stalled expectations for boom in private investments.Â
