At least 11 missing after blast on oil rig in Gulf

(News Terupdate) - The U.S. Coast Guard launched a major search effort Wednesday for 11 people missing after an explosion aboard an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Seventeen people were injured, three critically, in the blast aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which occurred about 10 p.m. Tuesday. The rig was about 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, said Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry. As of midafternoon Wednesday, the rig was still ablaze.

The cause of the explosion is under investigation, but there are no indications it was a terrorist incident, the Coast Guard said.

"It obviously was a catastrophic event," O'Berry said.

At the time of the explosion, 126 were on board the rig, O'Berry said.

The Coast Guard said it sent helicopters from New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, to help evacuate people from the rig and look for the missing. The Coast Guard also sent four cutters to the scene.

Of the 115 workers who were accounted for, 17 were transported by air for medical treatment from the rig. Another 94 people were taken to shore with no major injuries, and four more were transferred to another vessel, according to the Coast Guard.

Several people were hospitalized, including at least two, who were taken to a mobile trauma center.

Four people were taken to West Jefferson Medical Center in the New Orleans suburb of Marrero. Two were taken by ground at 3:20 a.m., and two were flown in at 5:45 a.m., said hospital spokeswoman Taslin Alfonzo. All four were treated and had been released by 11:15 a.m., she said.

Six people were taken to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile, according to spokesman Bob Lowry. Five were treated and released, and one was admitted to the facility's burn center, Lowry said.

The company that owns the rig, Transocean Ltd., said most crew members are safe.

"A substantial majority of the 126-member crew is safe, but some crew members remain unaccounted for at this time," the company said.

The company describes itself as the "world's largest offshore drilling contractor," saying it has 140 offshore drilling units.

There is potential for an oil spill when explosions occur, Minerals Management Service spokeswoman Eileen Angelico said Wednesday.

But she said the agency, which regulates the oil industry in federal waters, had received no reports of an oil spill connected with Tuesday night's explosion.

The rig involved in Tuesday's explosion, a mobile unit that moves to different locations in the Gulf of Mexico, had been drilling for oil in its current spot since January, Angelico said.

Before the blast, "there was no indication of any problems," said Adrian Rose, a vice president for Transocean.

Transocean said its crisis teams are working with the Coast Guard and lease operator BP Exploration & Production Inc. to "care for all rig personnel and search for missing rig personnel."

"The names and hometowns of injured persons are being withheld until family members can be notified," the company said.

The Coast Guard released two videos related to the blast.

One shows an injured person being hauled into a rescue helicopter.

"The survivor is just outside the cabin -- take it up slow, take it up slow," a voice instructs as a basket carrying the person is winched up from the platform. A rescuer steadies the cable with his hand and stops the basket's spinning as the survivor reaches the helicopter.

The video shows a rescuer on the platform moving away from the basket after it lifts off.

The other clip shows a person being taken by stretcher off a Coast Guard rescue helicopter in New Orleans.

"Bring me two cots," an emergency worker shouts as the first stretcher is wheeled away from the HH-60 helicopter.

Velshi: Rigs are some of the safest places

Fires on oil rigs are rare because engineers design them with safety in mind, said Greg McCormack, director of the Petroleum Extension Service for the University of Texas at Austin.

"They've built safety into the rigs. They've built safety into the operations, because they know that if you have a fire on an isolated rig that's out in the Gulf, you have a real issue," McCormack said Wednesday.

Even with lifeboats on hand, evacuating rigs is difficult, he said, and emergency crews can be delayed.

"The worst thing that can happen on an oil rig is you have a fire, and then you have to evacuate without the fire being put out, because then it can only get worse," McCormack said.

The Minerals Management Service said 39 fires or explosions were reported offshore in the Gulf of Mexico in the first five months of 2009, the latest period for which statistics are available.

The agency categorized all of those incidents as "minor" or "incidental."

As of April 16, 55 rigs were actively drilling in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Baker Hughes, a company that provides rig counts for the petroleum industry.

Source : CNN

Posted in: Fire,INCIDENT,TRAGEDY