1 dead, 5 missing in fire on Mexican Gulf oil platform
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico´s state-owned oil company said that one its employees was killed, five workers are missing and six were injured in a massive fire at one of its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Petroleos Mexicanos said late Sunday the fire at the processing platform in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap had been brought under control earlier in the day.
It was unclear what possibility remained of finding the missing workers. The platform was badly charred.
The company, known as Pemex, said it was undertaking an "exhaustive search" for the missing. Pemex said three of the injured are its employees and three others are employed by a subcontractor. All five of the missing are from that firm and another subcontractor.
Investigations continued into the cause of the accident.
The accident comes less than two months after another Petroleos Mexicanos pipeline in the Gulf leaked, causing a strange subaquatic fireball that Pemex said was caused by a bizarre chain of events, including a lightning storm and a simultaneous gas pipeline leak.
A leak in an underwater pipeline allowed natural gas to build up on the ocean floor and once it rose to the surface on July 2, it was probably ignited by a lightning bolt, the company said.
