At least five people have been killed and six injured in a fire at an offshore oil platform owned by Mexico’s state-run company Pemex.
Rescue workers are still searching for two people who are missing.
The fire also caused work to be halted at 125 oil wells for which the platform provides gas and electricity.
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The incident comes six weeks after a gas leak in an underwater Pemex pipeline triggered a fire on the ocean’s surface in the Gulf of Mexico.
The July blaze was dubbed “eye of fire” with footage widely shared on social media.
Both that blaze and the one which broke out on Sunday were linked to Pemex’s most important oil development, Ku-Maloob-Zaap located in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company’s chief executive, Octavio Romero, denied that a lack of investment was to blame for the incidents.
“There is not a problem of lack of resources. The oil industry is a risky industry. We have had accidents, which in numbers are less than in previous years,” he said at a news conference on Monday.
He added that this most recent fire had broken out as crews were performing maintenance work on the oil platform.
Pemex said production at Ku-Maloob-Zaap would resume by Wednesday. [MSN]
