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Gulf of Mexico oil platform fire: One dead and 16 injured in blaze Gulf of Mexico oil platform fire: 4 dead and 16 injured in blaze
(about 2 hours later)
At least on person has died and 16 other have been injured after a fire broke out at an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation's state-owned oil company has said. At least four people have died and 16 others have been injured after a fire broke out at an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation's state-owned oil company has said.
Petroleos Mexicanos said in a statement that two of workers injured were in serious condition. The dead worker was an employee of a Pemex contractor, Cotemar. Some 300 workers were evacuated from the Abkatun Permanente shallow-water platform in the Campeche Sound, according Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
The fire at the Abkatun Permanente platform forced the evacuation of 300 workers. The firm tweeted that an earlier death toll of one had risen to four. In an earlier statement, the company said that two of the injured workers were in a serious condition.
The company said eight firefighting boats were engaged in trying to extinguish the flames. As many as eight firefighting boats are now trying to extinguish the flames.
The platform is located in the Campeche Sound. A video believed to be from the scene showed huge plumes of black smoke rising from a raging blaze.
It was unclear whether any significant amount of oil had spilled into the Gulf.
Those injured in the incident are now currently being treated at a hospital in Campeche, Mexico's Energy Security Agency said.
It added that the blaze "is being extinguished".
The platform is located in the Campeche Sound, near the coast of the states of Campeche and Tabasco.
The tragic fire comes a 2007 blaze at the Kab 121 offshore rig which is in the area.
That accident was caused when high waves hit the rig, sending a boom crashing into an oil platform's valve assembly. The accident killed at least 21 workers and the rig spilled crude and natural gas for almost two months.
Mexico's worst major spill in the Gulf was in June 1979, when an offshore drilling rig in Mexican waters - the Ixtoc I - blew up, releasing 140 million gallons of oil.
It took Pemex and a series of US contractors nearly nine months to cap the well, and a great deal of the oil contaminated Mexican and US waters.
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Additional reporting by PAAdditional reporting by PA