Three Still Missing After Pemex Blaze

After a recount, Pemex has discovered that three workers are still missing from the Gulf of Mexico oil platform that caught fire on Wednesday.

One person is a Pemex employee and the others are contractors from Cotemar.

The blaze on the Abkatun-A Permanente platform in the Bay of Campeche killed four workers and injured 16, two of them seriously. One of the deceased worked for Pemex, a second one for Cotemar, and two more are yet to be identified. 

The incident has also left 16 people injured (four workers from PEMEX and 12 from companies that provide services on the platform). These people are being treated at the General Hospital in Ciudad del Carmen and at the Mexican Institute of Social Security. Two of the injured are in a serious condition, and 14 suffered minor injuries.

In total, 302 workers were evacuated from the platform.

As it was a processing platform, feeder lines could be turned without causing a major oil spill. The blaze is also expected to have little effect on production.

Specialized Pemex technicians, with the support of the National Agency for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbon Sector, are investigating the cause of the fire.