GRAND ISLE, LA (AP) – A pre-dawn fire has been extinguished on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and there is no sign of pollution in the area, authorities said Thursday.
The blaze was reported about 2:30 a.m. Thursday on the platform about 80 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and was extinguished nearly four hours later, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
There were no reports of injuries. Four workers aboard the platform evacuated into the water and were rescued by the crew of the 130-foot Mary Wyatt Milano, a supply vessel, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard and the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are investigating.
Houston-based Renaissance Offshore LLC owns the platform.
Crew members aboard the Mary Wyatt Milano and three other vessels battled the blaze. An HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane from Mobile, Alabama, also responded, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Third Class Travis Magee.
"They're overhead and they're getting a better view of the situation," Magee said.
Clean Gulf, an oil spill response organization, was on its way to the platform early Thursday. Clean Gulf is a nonprofit oil industry cooperative that responds to spills and provides equipment to help clean them up, according to its website.
An oil platform exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, killing 11 workers. Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf for weeks before the oil well could be capped.
– by AP Reporters Jeff Martin and Michael Kunzelman
