The Search for Oil Rig Workers

AssociatedPress — April 22, 2010 — Fireboats from the US Coast Guard continue to try and put out an oil rig fire, burning in the Gulf of Mexico. The fire started Tuesday night after an explosion on the rig. 11 workers remain missing. (April 22) GULF ACCIDENTS 509 blazes have hit rigs since 2006 By LISE OLSEN and TERRI LANGFORD HOUSTON CHRONICLE April 21, 2010, 9:44PM Nine major oil rig fires have killed at least two people and seriously injured 12 since 2006 in the Gulf of Mexico, a lonely, high-risk drilling area where workers stay for weeks at a time, working 12-hour-a-day shifts. Those fires are among 509 recorded on oil platforms in the Gulf since 2006, according to the US Mineral Management Services, which monitors and collects platform data. The Chronicle did not find any fatal accidents involving the drilling rig that caught fire Tuesday night, the Deepwater Horizon, or the company that owns it, Transocean Ltd. However, fire struck other Transocean rigs in 2008 and 2009 and four of 19 accidents recorded on Transocean platforms for the past four years resulted in injuries to workers that required evacuation to shore and caused .9 million in damage, according to MMS accident reports. The Houston Chronicle counted 35 fatal Gulf of Mexico platform accidents since 2006, based on local news reports and records. The two deadliest Gulf of Mexico fires occurred in 2008 and in January on two oil rig platforms operated by the Apache Corp. In those two cases, one man died of …

Video Rating: 4 / 5