Another Gulf oil rig explodes
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Another oil rig exploded and caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, and there is no indication of oil sheen, officials said.
![Another oil rig exploded and caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, and there is no indication of oil sheen, officials said. [Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100903/000cf1bdd03f0dea897101.jpg "Another oil rig exploded and caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, and there is no indication of oil sheen, officials said. [Xinhua]") |
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Another oil rig exploded and caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, and there is no indication of oil sheen, officials said. [Xinhua] |
The blast, which occurred 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast, was reported by a commercial helicopter company at about 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel.
The fire was put out and there were no injuries among the 13 workers on board the rig, despite earlier reports of a worker wounded in the incident, officials said.
Multiple helicopters, two Coast Guard airplanes and four Coast Guard cutters were dispatched to the scene, west of the site of the April rig blast that unleashed the worst spill in U.S. history.
Earlier reports also said oil sheen was found near the site of the explosion. But U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Peter Troedsson said there is no evidence of an oil sheen and no visible leaks were spotted.
"We continue to investigate and to monitor the situation," he said in a news conference.
Mariner Energy, a Houston-based independent oil and gas exploration and production company that owns the Vermilion Oil Rig 380, confirmed the fire on the rig, but said the fire was not sparked by an explosion.
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