Two Dead In Gulf Oil Rig Explosion

November 17, 2012

Coast Guard crews are searching for two missing crew members following a platform explosion about 20 miles southeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana, Friday morning.

Eleven crew members were airlifted from the Black Elk Energy-owned platform to various local hospitals. Nine more crew members were safely evacuated off the platform. The fire has been extinguished, and a sheen has been spotted in the area.

The Coast Guard is currently searching with response boats from Coast Guard Stations Grand Isle and Venice, the 87-foot Coast Guard Cutters Pelican and Razorbill, an HC-144 Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft crew and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Aviation Training Center in Mobile, and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station New Orleans.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

The explosion came a day after BP reached agreement with U.S. prosecutors to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay a record $4.5 billion in penalties for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident.

Pictured top: An oil platform burns in the Gulf of Mexico Friday. Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

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