BREAKING: Offshore Oil Rig Explodes 20 Miles From New Orleans

News organizations in Lousiana are reporting that three people were injured — two badly burned — in an oil rig explosion Wednesday.

The news of the explosion arrives just hours after Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that an offshore drilling ban would remain in place until 2020 in certain sections of the Gulf.

From WGAL.com:

The U.S. Coast Guard received a report at about 10:15 a.m. Central time, that three people were injured on the rig, which is roughly 20 miles south-southeast of New Orleans, Petty Officer Thomas Blue of the Coast Guard told the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper.

There was no immediate status report on the condition of the rig, said Kenneth L. Padgett, director of Jefferson Parish emergency management, WDSU reported.

UPDATE (8:37 ET) Multiple news outlets are reporting that the rig that exploded this morning was a workover rig positioned south of New Orleans.

Jefferson Parish emergency officials say the men’s hands and faces were burned in an explosion during welding on the rig on Bayou Perot, about 20 miles south of New Orleans (KATC.com).

The men’s identities have not yet been released at the request of their families.

UPDATE (8:57 ET) According to FuelFix.com, the rig is owned by a company called Grosse Tete but the company that reported the incident was Louisiana Delta Oil. The fire that occured after the explosion is out and so far there are no reports of pollution in the water surrounding.

“This rig isn’t really in the Gulf of Mexico, but rather is in one of the areas of open water that make up the Lousiana delta,” reports FuelFix. “And from the pictures it looks more like a land rig that’s on a barge, far from a large, sophisticated rig like the Deepwater Horizon.”

Updates will be posted on this Care2 Causes channel as they are available.

Image Credit: CBS

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Warren W.

5:37PM PDT on Mar 21, 2011

Sounds like Grosse Tete is more responsible than BP.

send a green star

Dean P.

1:35PM PST on Dec 7, 2010

Happens more often than people know about..

David N.

11:58AM PST on Dec 6, 2010

When will we ever learn. We need to shut down and remove oil wells, then this won't happen.

10:16AM PST on Dec 6, 2010

Just dont give up acting against these, for start it should be preventing from happening again, preferly stopped. Second they should take responsibility towards cleaning up their mess by building up the lives they distroyed.

robert z.

6:02AM PST on Dec 5, 2010

whats bin laden compared to these oil companies?

Colin H.

3:39AM PST on Dec 4, 2010

Time to leave the planet, but I'll sign first!!

Beth B.

11:11AM PST on Dec 3, 2010

Readers: The header picture was updated yesterday morning to reflect the actual Bayou Perot rig, but according to Care2 technical services it's not showing up for all viewers (including me). The image credit to CBS is accurate to the new picture. I'm sorry for all the confusion.

Deborah Q.

7:07AM PST on Dec 3, 2010

OH NO!! Really. This is total BS and it needs to stop!!!!!!!!!

Patricia Ann A.

6:00AM PST on Dec 3, 2010

FIRE KEN SALAZAR NOW!

Peter Anthony A.

3:00AM PST on Dec 3, 2010

These incidents/accidents with off shore/deep water drilling are getting far to commonplace. What concerns me greatly is the proposal to start drilling in artic waters next,we are already suffering a shrinkage of the ice through global warming and our artic wildlife is at great risk. What then if you had an incident on the scale of the Gulf of Mexico no stop all deep water drilling check all equipment and then and only then procede although I fail to see in the 21st century why we have to rely on fosil fuels still putting our wild life and the men's [who work on them] lifes at great risk. The way we are going they will be no natural wild life left.