Post date: Sep 02, 2010 6:47:19 PM
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says all 13 people from a burning Mariner Energy oil and gas facility in the Gulf of Mexico are accounted for, and one is injured and being transported out of the area.
(SEPTEMBER 2, 2010) POOL - An oil and gas platform owned by Mariner Energy was on fire off the coast of Louisiana on Thursday (September 2), but no oil was visible in the water and the 13 workers aboard the facility were rescued.
The site of the fire was located west of BP Plc's ruptured Macondo well that killed 11 people and caused the world's worst offshore oil spill.
All 13 workers at the platform -- located more than 90 miles (145 km) south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay -- were plucked from the water by a supply boat and taken to another platform where they were waiting to be picked up by the Coast Guard, the agency said.
One worker was injured, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters at a daily briefing.
He said a government response was ready if needed.
"We obviously have response assets ready for deployment, should we receive reports of pollution in the water," Gibbs said.
He added that the platform was not producing at the time of the fire and that rescue ships were on the way while helicopters were on scene.