CHICAGO: Rescuers continued searching the rocky waters of a southern US lake Monday for a worker missing since an explosion a day earlier on an oil and natural gas platform.
The offshore oil and gas storage facility, located on Lake Pontchartrain in the southern state of Louisiana, near New Orleans, burst into flames early Sunday night.
The fire burned overnight and was not extinguished until early Monday afternoon.
“It was reported by one of the platform workers that eight people were aboard at the time of the explosion, and one person did not make it to shore,” the US Coast Guard said in a statement.
Rescue workers searched by boats and helicopter Monday for the one missing worker. Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said they would continue for “as long as it takes.”
“The weather is inhibiting,” Lopinto said, because of rough waters.
Of the seven injured, two suffered burns that left them in critical condition, a hospital spokesman said.
Local authorities believe the explosion was fueled by natural gas and reported no spilled oil visible on the water.
“It was a large fire that burned a whole bunch of metal,” Lopinto said.
Investigators were to board the platform Monday to probe the cause of the accident.
US media reported that the facility was undergoing maintenance at the time of the explosion and that the fire began in a storage tank.
One missing, 7 injured in rig explosion near US Gulf Coast
One missing, 7 injured in rig explosion near US Gulf Coast
Russia says two crew members from US-seized tanker released
- “Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” Zakharova said
- Russia announced earlier this month that the US had decided to release the Russian duo
MOSCOW: Moscow said Wednesday two Russian crew members of a tanker seized this month by the United States in the Atlantic had been released and were on their way home.
US authorities took over the Russian-flagged vessel earlier this month, alleging it was part of a shadow fleet carrying oil from countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The United States said publicly that the Marinera’s crew could be prosecuted. Russia said that would be “categorically unacceptable” and accused Washington of stoking tensions and threatening international shipping.
“Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.
Russia announced earlier this month that the United States had decided to release the two Russian crew members, but last week its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the decision had not yet been implemented.
The captain and the first officer of the tanker have left UK waters, Solicitor General for Scotland, Ruth Charteris told a court hearing Tuesday, Press Association news agency reported.
“The captain and the first officer are now aboard the US Coast Guard vessel Munro and have departed the United Kingdom’s territorial sea,” Charteris said.
Twenty-six of the 28 crew have left the ship, officials told AFP. They were processed at a military site in Inverness, Scotland, the court was told, according to Press Association.
Five wanted to travel to the United States and 21 elsewhere. None have claimed asylum, the court heard.
“At the request of the US authorities, crew members have been allowed to disembark for onwards travel,” a UK government spokesperson told AFP Wednesday.
“They will be processed in line with all appropriate immigration and legal requirements.”
Britain was not involved in the movement of the other two crew members, the government said.
The United States seized the tanker, previously known as Bella 1, which was being escorted by the Russian navy, after chasing it from near the Venezuelan coast.
It was re-flagged and re-named to bring it under Russian jurisdiction in a bid to discourage the United States from trying to take it as part of its campaign against Venezuela.
