Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) reported Monday that five people have died, six have been injured and two are missing following a fire in the Ku-A Processing Center at the E-Ku-A2 compression and electricity generation facility.
The company confirmed that one worker from PEMEX and four from the COTEMAR company passed away. The two missing persons are from the Bufete de Monitoreo de Condiciones e Integridad (BMCI) company. Of the six injured, all are being treated in hospital, with one in serious condition, Pemex outlined. In a report posted Sunday, Pemex revealed that one of its workers had passed away as a result of the incident on the Ku Maloob Zaap production asset in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico.
In its latest update, PEMEX specified that the incident did not occur due to a lack of investment in the maintenance of its facilities and highlighted that its current administration had increased the budget for this area. The company also noted that the safety of its workers and facilities is a priority.
“At PEMEX we are focusing our efforts on caring for affected workers and their families, as well as on the exhaustive search for personnel reported as missing,” Pemex said in a statement posted on its website, which was translated from Spanish.
“Likewise, an inspection of the facilities is carried out to evaluate the damage and initiate a root cause analysis that allows determining the origin of this fact and applying the corresponding insurance,” the company added in the statement.
Commenting on the incident in a statement posted on her Twitter page, which was translated, Mexico’s energy secretary, Rocio Nahle, said, “my condolences to the families of the workers who died in the unfortunate accident that occurred at Pemex’s Ku-Alfa oil platform”.
In the statement, Nahle also recognized the “high risk” work performed by people on platforms and in the hydrocarbon sector.
Mi más sentido pésame a los familiares de los trabajadores fallecidos en el lamentable accidente ocurrido en la plataforma petrolera Ku- Alfa de @Pemex
— Rocío Nahle (@rocionahle) August 23, 2021
Mi reconocimiento al trabajo de alto riesgo que desempeñan los trabajadores en plataformas y en el sector de hidrocarburos. 🙏
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