Efforts to prevent an environmental disaster are continuing in the Gulf of Mexico, after an oil platform caught fire and sank yesterday.

Searches are continuing for 11 crew missing after the accident on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which was conducting exploratory drilling around 65 km off the coast of Louisiana for BP.

Fears are growing that an oil slick caused by the accident could have devastating impacts on the local environment.

“The drilling rig capsized and sank with the unburned portion of an estimated 700,000 gallons of number 2 fuel reported onboard,” says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Crude oil and natural gas are still being released uncontrolled from the riser pipe of the well.”

According to Transocean, which operated the rig, a fire broke out on the Deepwater Horizon at 10.00 pm central time, 20 April. Late in the morning yesterday the platform sank, the company said in a statement, and “the combined response team was not able to stem the flow of hydrocarbons prior to the rig sinking”.

BP is rushing 32 ‘spill response vessels’ to the area in an attempt to contain the slick and has four planes on standby to spray chemicals to disperse the oil.

“We are determined to do everything in our power to contain this oil spill and resolve the situation as rapidly, safely and effectively as possible,” says Tony Hayward, the company’s chief executive. (statement) “There should be no doubt of our resolve to limit the escape of oil and protect the marine and coastal environments from its effects.”

Gulf of Mexico – Transocean Drilling Incident website

Image: US Coastguard