Blazing Oil Rig Sinks in Gulf of Mexico, 11 Missing Feared Dead
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, April 22, 2010 (ENS) - An oil rig that exploded Tuesday night and burned for 36 hours sank in the Gulf of Mexico this morning, leaving responders with a potentially enormous oil spill on their hands.
The Deepwater Horizon, owned by the Swiss company Transocean Ltd. and contracted by BP Exploration & Production, Inc., had drilled an exploratory well down to its limit of 18,000 feet. The well was being closed when the incident occurred at 10 pm Tuesday local time, about 41 miles offshore Louisiana and 130 miles southeast of New Orleans.