Eleven workers missing after Louisiana oil rig explosion

[Hannah Bell]

Eleven workers were still missing in the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday night, 24 hours after an explosion on a British Petroleum (BP) oil rig 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Seventeen workers were seriously injured, and three remained in critical condition at the time of writing. The remaining 98 of the rig’s 116-person workforce were being transported by boat to safety.

The cause of the explosion on Deepwater Horizon, which occurred at about 10 p.m. local time on Tuesday, remains unknown...

BP, one of the world’s three largest oil companies, quickly released a statement declaring that rig operator Transocean is responsible for safety. Transocean is the world’s biggest offshore drilling contractor, operating 146 rigs globally and employing over 21,000 workers. Though its corporate operations are in Houston, Transocean has been officially headquartered in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland in recent years...

Since 2001 there have been 69 deaths, 1,349 injuries and 858 fires or explosions on oil rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico alone, according to the International Association of Drilling Contractors. These are extremely high injury and death rates when one considers that there are only 35,000 oil workers in the Gulf at any given time....

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/oilr-a22.shtml

[Volaris]

1. But...

more (offshore rigs) will make it all better.....

[spinbaby]

2. I thought they found these guys yesterday

Was that report mistaken?

[Statistical]

9. Yes the original report was mistaken. Sadly doesn't look good for the 11. n/t

[TransitJohn]

3. Yeah

my chopper flight out yesterday was canceled as all the chopper lines were helping the Coast Guard with search and rescue. It doesn't look good for those eleven. I had about a million calls and texts from friends and family yesterday. I head out tomorrow.

[malaise]

4. I started a thread asking about the missing workers last

night and it sank like an oil rig on fire.

[SidDithers]

5. I started one yesterday morning...

And kicked another yesterday afternoon, both with the same result.

Sid

[TransitJohn]

6. I don't get it,

miners good, rig workers not so good? DU has it's own set of intricate foibles.

[seabeyond]

7. my brother worked underwater welding for more than a decade until body got too old

and he got some advanced credentials, but still works in the oil areas in houston now. but he was in that area working. i wonder how many people he knows was on the rig

now, right now in hospital for umpteenth vehicle accident with more broken body parts. seems to have a death wish kinda guy. but it is a very good paying job. and dangerous. hence the pay

[TransitJohn]

8. ....

:kick:

[malaise]

10. Keep kicked n/t

[Hannah Bell]

11. k