Workers injured in oil rig blast...

[SidDithers]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/04/21/Workers-injured-in-oil-rig-blast/UPI-54881271850841/

Workers injured in oil rig blast

Three people were critically injured and more than a dozen others are missing following an explosion and fire aboard an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

The blast occurred late Tuesday on the Deepwater Horizon, a mobile offshore drilling unit some 50 miles southwest of Venice, La., WWL-TV, New Orleans, reports.

Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters are searching for the missing workers.

President Billy Nungesser of Palquemines Parish said the rig is currently in danger of tipping over.

Hope they find the missing crew workers quickly, and environmental impact is minimal.

Sid

Edit: Changed title of post. I shouldn't make light of this serious situation.

[SidDithers]

1. NY Times article...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/us/22rig.html

“We’ve had hurricanes and fires on the rigs, but I can’t remember that we ever had this type of explosion and definitely not on this type of rig,” Mr. Nungesser said. “This is one of the largest, deep water, off-shore drilling rigs.”

The Deepwater Horizon can operate in water depths up to 8,000 feet, according to Transocean’s Web site. It is 396 feet long and 256 feet wide and was built in 2001 by Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea.

Mr. Paganos said the rig had a crew of 126, most of them Transocean employees, along with some B.P. personnel, consultants and service workers.

“The rig is leaning badly,” Mr. Nungesser said in an interview with WWL-TV, a New Orleans television station. He added that Coast Guard officials felt “like it may go over sometime today.”

Sid