MEXICO CITY, Aug 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — At least five workers were killed, two others missing and six injured in a fire at an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, Mexico’s state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which runs the rig, said.
One of the injured workers was in serious conditions, Pemex General Director Octavio Romero Oropeza told a press conference on Monday.
The incident happened 100 km from Ciudad del Carmen in the southeast Campeche state, has claimed the lives of a Pemex employee and four workers from Cotemar, a rig maintenance company, he said.
Romero said the company was undergoing an exhaustive search for the missing persons, who work for the Conditions and Integrity Monitoring Firm.
Meanwhile, a root cause inspection would be conducted “to determine the source” of the fire “and apply the corresponding insurance,” said Romero.
The company said the fire had been brought under control at 4:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, about one hour and a half after it broke out at the E-Ku A2 platform of the Ku-A Process Center, part of the Ku-Maloob-Zaap oil field, in Campeche Sound.
The oil field generates about 40 percent of Mexico’s crude oil output, or approximately 1.68 million barrels per day. — NNN-XINHUA
