The explosion happened on rig located about 170 kilometres south of Vermilion Bay, LA.
Oldspeak: “And the hits just keep ONNNNNN commin.”
From Alan Sayre @ The Associated Press:
A mile-long oil sheen spread Thursday from an offshore petroleum platform burning in the Gulf of Mexico off Lousiana, west of the site of BP’s massive spill.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy Inc.
He said Mariner had deployed three firefighting vessels to the site and one already was in place fighting the blaze.
The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the explosion and fire, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the site around 9 a.m. CDT. All 13 people aboard the rig were rescued as they floated in the nearby water in survival outfits called gumby suits.
The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Vermilion Bay on the central Louisiana coast. It’s location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP’s well spewed oil and gas for three months after an April rig explosion.
All 13 people aboard the rig were found floating in the water, sticking close together, Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said.
“These guys had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those gumby suits before they entered the water. It speaks volumes to safety training and the importance of it because beyond getting off the rig there’s all the hazards of the water such as hypothermia and things of that nature,” Edwards said.
All were being flown to a hospital in Houma to be checked over. Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said one person was injured, but the platform’s owner, Houston-based Mariner Energy, Inc., said there were no injuries.
“Mariner has notified and is working with regulatory authorities in response to this incident. The cause is not known, and an investigation will be undertaken,” the company said in a statement. It said the platform was located on Vermilion Block 380, approximately 100 miles off the Louisiana coast.
