Offshore rig burning off the coast of Louisiana, several employees missing.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36683314/ns/us_news-life/

NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday that 11 oil workers missing after a rig explosion off Louisiana have not been found, contrary to a report by a local government official.

"We're still searching," said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Sue Kerver, noting that the Coast Guard is the lead agency for the search and rescue effort.

Helicopters and boats searched the Gulf of Mexico for any sign of the missing workers.

[Nihil]

1. K & R ...

Add them to the list of coal miners and gas workers that no-one really
gives a shit about when they die.
:shrug:

[Dead_Parrot]

2. Yeah, but oil is natural and organic

...and therefore not dangerous. According to somebody.

[Lerkfish]

3. "but...but ... offshore oil drilling is SAFE and should be pursued" --DLC

sad.

[flyarm]

4. but don't you worry one little bit about the coast of Florida ..both coasts actually getting covered

with these rigs..don't worry about big storms and do not worry about Hurricanes..( which was pointed out to many that Katrina came through the Gulf of Mexico as a Cat5..but only hit the Gulf states as a Cat 3) because these rigs are so damn safe and stand up to huge hurricanes..and never catch ...fire.....or leak oil ..or anything bad for the environment..

Yes that is all shit we all saw posted here at DU when Obama, went against his pledge to the voters AND CITIZENS of Florida ..and signed off on DRILL BABY DRILL!!

[NNadir]

5. This is going to generate 15 minutes of concern, sort of like Piper Alpha, Sago, etc.

Dangerous Fossil Fuels kill continuously both in failure and normal operations.

Tens of millions of people have died, generating no real concern from the peanut gallery, which is mostly concerned with peanut oil as a biofuel.

It's not like our anti-nukes here are going to obsess on this one, but they'll spend thousands of hours in a stupid paraoxym of "concern" over stuff they can't understand as a result of having a non-existant understanding of science.

Witness the life of the dumb tritium concern trolling here, all of which is absymally ignorant.

If we want someone to give a fuck about this, maybe we should announce that the oil is radioactive.

[Merchant Marine]

6. If those 11 guys aren't in a lifeboat somewhere...

They're dead. Either incinerated in the blast or trapped somewhere belowdecks.

I have it on good authority that the fire on the rig is still burning and the rig is currently listing to 13 degrees from all the water they have pumped on board to fight the fire. It's now a race for the ROV to shut off the riser and cut off the flow of gas to the rig before they hit the down flooding angle for the anchor lockers and the whole thing rolls over and sinks.

What bothers me is the eagerness with which the members of this forum, in LBN and Energy, are willing to dance on the graves of these American workers before the fires are even out. Please do not use their deaths to make some sort of half-assed political statement before they are even in the ground.

[kristopher]

7. Don't think everyone is like that.

[Nihil]

9. No, there are a lot of "Not radioactive? Not interested!" types too.

[NNadir]

10. Not everyone? EVERY DAMN ANTI-NUKE HERE, 100%, couldn't care less.

The reason is that the anti-nuke industry is openly a subsidiary of the dangerous fossil fuel industry.

I can count on zero fingers the number of anti-nukes who will remember this case or give a fuck about it two weeks from now.

[Merchant Marine]

8. New update, the rig has sunk.

The USCG stated at 1245 that the rig capsized and sank and the fire is out.

Apparently another rescue capsule has been found. Hopefully that's the 11 missing crew.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/Oil-rig-survivors-back-on-land-91800739.html

[joshcryer]

14. Any reason for a cause?

[Merchant Marine]

11. Latest news is that when the rig sunk the deadman kicked in and killed the riser

The well is not leaking, and there is major spill response deployed to clean up what got out.

It has been revealed that the 11 missing crew were all likely on the drill-floor at the time of the explosion. Their survival is unlikely.

[Statistical]

12. Sad for the crew. Glad there is technology in place to stop flow of oil.

When I was growing up my friends father had been both to Vietnam and worked on a offshore rig.
He said the offshore rig was far more dangerous. The big explosions are the only ones that make the news.
Lots of "minor" ways to get crippled or killed on a rig. Getting crushed, cables snapping, falling, blowback pressure, issues with hydrolic pressure, fires, etc.

Very dangerous work. RIP to the crew.

[joshcryer]

16. See post #13! OMG.

[Strelnikov_]

13. Oil well hit by fatal explosion produces slick the size of Hong Kong - Leaking

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7107956.ece



An oil slick covering 400sq miles is threatening a slow-motion catastrophe for the Gulf of Mexico’s delicate marine life, with 42,000 gallons (160,000 litres) a day now gushing from an uncapped well after a rig explosion.

Two days after declaring that there was no leak and that oil on the surface was residue from on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that burst into a fireball on Tuesday, officials revealed that the slick was coming from the seabed and was now 25 times the size it was on Friday.

[joshcryer]

15. Oh my god that is a tragedy. OMG.