 US Coast Guard is searching the Gulf of Mexico for at least 11 oil workers missing after an explosion and fire on an off-shore drilling platform.
The Deepwater Horizon rig was still burning hours after the blast on Tuesday night, 84km (52 miles) south-east of the Louisiana port of Venice.
Transocean Ltd provided an update this morning regarding the fire and explosion onboard its semisubmersible drilling rig Deepwater Horizon. The incident occurred April 20, 2010 at approximately 10:00 p.m. central time in the United States Gulf of Mexico. The rig was located approximately 41 miles offshore Louisiana on Mississippi Canyon block 252.
The rig was staffed with a 126 member crew, 11 remain missing and 115 have been safely evacuated. The ongoing search and rescue effort is being coordinated among Transocean’s Emergency and Family Response Team, the lease operator, BP Exploration & Production, Inc., and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The rig continues to burn.
