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BBC MUNDO RADIO
BATON ROUGE, La. (April 22) -- Low winds and warm waters aided rescue teams in the Gulf of Mexico today as they spent a second day searching for 11 oil rig workers missing since their platform exploded in flames off Louisiana's coast.
Authorities said about 115 others were rescued, some plucked from the sea by helicopter after Tuesday night's explosion 50 miles offshore. Seventeen were injured, three critically. Most of those rescued arrived early today by boat at Port Fourchon and were driven to a hotel in suburban New Orleans to meet their loved ones, Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Baker said.
Baker said crews on a helicopter, a search plane and two Coast Guard cutters were looking for the missing.
"We're going to continue searching for them as long as there's a reasonable favorability that they're alive," Baker told AOL News.
Fireboats continued dousing the rig while other crews tried to plug a valve that was feeding the fire with oil, he said.
"If we can close that, it'll be a lot easier to put out that fire. Right now, it's still pumping out oil to burn, so it's like fighting a never-ending fire," Baker said.
About 100 workers managed to reach a supply boat that eventually ferried them to safety.
"I've seen a lot of things, but I've never seen anything like that," one survivor told The Associated Press. Visibly tired, he wouldn't give his name. He and his co-workers milled around the hotel lobby in Port Fourchon, smoking cigarettes.
What was supposed to be a happy reunion for survivors was overshadowed by worries about the 11 workers still missing.
If the missing didn't survive, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon would be one of the nation's deadliest offshore drilling accidents in the past half-century.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said it's unclear whether the missing workers are in the gulf waters or still on the drilling platform, which is still burning a day and a half after the explosion.
"We have no information as to the whereabouts of the 11 personnel at this point," Landry said at a New Orleans news conference Wednesday.
The explosion rocked the Transocean Ltd. mobile rig about 50 miles southeast of Venice, La. It's unclear when the flames might die out. A plume of dense black smoke can still be seen billowing hundreds of feet up from the Gulf of Mexico. The giant burning rig is 400 by 250 feet -- roughly twice the size of a football field.
Adrian Rose, a Transocean vice president, said the platform is listing up to 10 degrees but is stable. "I don't think it's in danger of capsizing," he said.
It's unclear what caused the explosion, Rose said, partly because workers have not yet been interviewed about the moments leading up to the blast. He said the blast is believed to have gone off just as workers were cementing a steel casing around a well, after drilling the hole to its final depth at more than 18,000 feet.
"They did not have a lot of time to evacuate. This would have happened very rapidly," he said.
The 17 injured workers were airlifted for medical care in Louisiana and Alabama, Baker told AOL News.
David Hayes, deputy secretary of the interior, said the federal Minerals Management Service had inspected the platform three times this year -- including once earlier this month. Landry said the Coast Guard had also done an annual compliance report on the platform.
Hayes said he doesn't believe any safety violations were found.
Transocean and Coast Guard officials have downplayed the pollution risks thus far, because any oil and gas in the gulf is being burned up in the flames. Landry said oil spill containment vessels would prevent environmental damage to the coastline.
Transocean, which calls itself the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, had leased the rig to BP. Of the 126 workers on the platform, 79 worked for Transocean, six for BP and the rest for other companies, Rose said.
According to Transocean's website, Deepwater Horizon was built in 2001. It was in water that was 5,000 feet deep Tuesday night, but it can operate in depths of 8,000 feet. It can hold a crew of 130 people.
Rose declined to estimate the value of the rig, but said it would cost between $500 million and $600 million to build a similar deep-water facility today.
One of the deadliest U.S. offshore drilling accidents was in 1964, when 21 workers died aboard a drilling barge that exploded about 80 miles off Louisiana near Eugene Island. The worst such incident in the world happened in 1988 in Scotland, where 167 men were killed.
Since 2001, there have been 69 offshore deaths, 1,349 injuries and 858 fires and explosions in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Minerals Management Service.
Authorities said about 115 others were rescued, some plucked from the sea by helicopter after Tuesday night's explosion 50 miles offshore. Seventeen were injured, three critically. Most of those rescued arrived early today by boat at Port Fourchon and were driven to a hotel in suburban New Orleans to meet their loved ones, Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Baker said.
Baker said crews on a helicopter, a search plane and two Coast Guard cutters were looking for the missing.
"We're going to continue searching for them as long as there's a reasonable favorability that they're alive," Baker told AOL News.
Fireboats continued dousing the rig while other crews tried to plug a valve that was feeding the fire with oil, he said.
"If we can close that, it'll be a lot easier to put out that fire. Right now, it's still pumping out oil to burn, so it's like fighting a never-ending fire," Baker said.
About 100 workers managed to reach a supply boat that eventually ferried them to safety.
"I've seen a lot of things, but I've never seen anything like that," one survivor told The Associated Press. Visibly tired, he wouldn't give his name. He and his co-workers milled around the hotel lobby in Port Fourchon, smoking cigarettes.
What was supposed to be a happy reunion for survivors was overshadowed by worries about the 11 workers still missing.
If the missing didn't survive, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon would be one of the nation's deadliest offshore drilling accidents in the past half-century.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said it's unclear whether the missing workers are in the gulf waters or still on the drilling platform, which is still burning a day and a half after the explosion.
"We have no information as to the whereabouts of the 11 personnel at this point," Landry said at a New Orleans news conference Wednesday.
The explosion rocked the Transocean Ltd. mobile rig about 50 miles southeast of Venice, La. It's unclear when the flames might die out. A plume of dense black smoke can still be seen billowing hundreds of feet up from the Gulf of Mexico. The giant burning rig is 400 by 250 feet -- roughly twice the size of a football field.
Adrian Rose, a Transocean vice president, said the platform is listing up to 10 degrees but is stable. "I don't think it's in danger of capsizing," he said.
It's unclear what caused the explosion, Rose said, partly because workers have not yet been interviewed about the moments leading up to the blast. He said the blast is believed to have gone off just as workers were cementing a steel casing around a well, after drilling the hole to its final depth at more than 18,000 feet.
"They did not have a lot of time to evacuate. This would have happened very rapidly," he said.
The 17 injured workers were airlifted for medical care in Louisiana and Alabama, Baker told AOL News.
Gerald Herbert, AP
5 photos Eleven oil rig workers were missing Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico after their oil rig exploded a day earlier, injuring at least 17. Here the Deepwater Horizon rig is seen burning Wednesday. Click through for more photos.
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Oil Rig Blast
Eleven oil rig workers were missing Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico after their oil rig exploded a day earlier, injuring at least 17. Here the Deepwater Horizon rig is seen burning Wednesday. Click through for more photos.
Gerald Herbert, AP
Gerald Herbert, AP
David Hayes, deputy secretary of the interior, said the federal Minerals Management Service had inspected the platform three times this year -- including once earlier this month. Landry said the Coast Guard had also done an annual compliance report on the platform.
Hayes said he doesn't believe any safety violations were found.
Transocean and Coast Guard officials have downplayed the pollution risks thus far, because any oil and gas in the gulf is being burned up in the flames. Landry said oil spill containment vessels would prevent environmental damage to the coastline.
Transocean, which calls itself the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, had leased the rig to BP. Of the 126 workers on the platform, 79 worked for Transocean, six for BP and the rest for other companies, Rose said.
According to Transocean's website, Deepwater Horizon was built in 2001. It was in water that was 5,000 feet deep Tuesday night, but it can operate in depths of 8,000 feet. It can hold a crew of 130 people.
Rose declined to estimate the value of the rig, but said it would cost between $500 million and $600 million to build a similar deep-water facility today.
One of the deadliest U.S. offshore drilling accidents was in 1964, when 21 workers died aboard a drilling barge that exploded about 80 miles off Louisiana near Eugene Island. The worst such incident in the world happened in 1988 in Scotland, where 167 men were killed.
Since 2001, there have been 69 offshore deaths, 1,349 injuries and 858 fires and explosions in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Minerals Management Service.
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