Two oil workers were killed and ten more were injured in an accident that took place on a well-maintenance rig platform off the coast of Mexico on Tuesday, news agencies have reported.
The platform belongs to independent service provider Typhoon Offshore which was contracted by Mexico’s state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to provide support for its offshore operations.
Pemex said in a statement the incident happened due to the collapse of one of the rig’s legs and said the rig was “listing” but had not sunk.
It also said that the jack-up was manoeuvring to perform offshore maintenance at the time of the accident in the Bay of Campeche, in the Gulf of Mexico.
98 Typhoon workers and three Pemex employees that were on board of the rig were removed and taken to hospital.
Marine operations are developing as normal and the accident did not affect production as the platform was mobile, the company said.
The parent company of Typhoon, Grupo Salinas, confirmed the number of casualties and commented: “The platform has all the safety mechanisms necessary for an infrastructure of this magnitude. Unfortunately, despite safety measures, accidents happen.”
A company spokesman said that no oil spills occurred as a result of the incident and the well was closed off. An investigation into the incident has been launched.
This is the second accident in less than two months in the Gulf of Mexico involving Pemex employees. On the 2nd of April at least four people were killed and 45 were injured in a fire that broke out on a platform run by the Mexican state-owned company.
