4 injured, 2 missing in Gulf oil rig fire

NEW ORLEANS – Four oil platform workers have been critically injured and two are missing after a fire and explosion Friday morning on a shallow-water rig off the coast of Louisiana, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Coast Guard Lt. Cheryl Hickey, command duty officer for the New Orleans sector, said earlier reports confirming that two people were dead were inaccurate.

Eleven workers suffering less serious injuries were airlifted to area hospitals in helicopters from energy companies, and nine others were evacuated safely. The fire was extinguished after about two hours.

West Jefferson hospital officials told WWL-TV that four people were brought in by helicopter in critical condition. The men reportedly suffered second- and third-degree burns over most of their bodies.

The fire erupted at a shallow-water platform 36 miles east of Port Fourchon, on the tip of Lafourche Parish, said Chett Chiasson, executive director of Port Fourchon, which services oil and gas companies in the region.

Hickey said crews were performing maintenance on the rig at the time of the fire and that the platform was not actively pumping oil.

Coast Guard Incident Commander Ed Cubanski said the fire was started by a torch cutting a pipe that was filled with a maximum 75 gallons of oil.

A sheen was reported in the area, likely caused by onboard oil, but no active discharge from the well has been reported, she said.

The Coast Guard sent two rescue boats, two helicopters and a fixed-wing CG 144 plane, Hickey said, but private commercial helicopters and boats were already engaged in search-and-rescue efforts.

The platform, which is in 30 to 40 feet of water, is operated by Houston-based Black Elk Energy, which in recent years has acquired platforms in the Gulf, Chiasson said. WWL-TV reports on the company's safety record.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are impacted," the company said in an initial statement. "We have Black Elk personnel on the scene and en route. We are still collecting information at this time. We will release a statement this afternoon when we have more details."

Unlike the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, which killed 11 crewmen and unleashed more than 100 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, Friday's incident does not pose a similar threat. Chiasson said.

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