Gulf Of Mexico, Oil Rig | featured news

Coast Guard crews continued searching for two workers missing after an explosion and fire aboard a Gulf of Mexico oil rig on Friday that was apparently triggered by workers using a blow torch to cut a pipe.

Two people were missing and four people were airlifted to a hospital Friday after an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico some 17 miles southeast of Grand Isle, La., the U.S. Coast Guard told NBC News.

An offshore oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the April blast that caused a massive oil spill.

Administration wants investigations into a rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico to be completed before any expansion of offshore oil drilling.

BP Plc will clean up an oil spill from one of its wells in the Gulf of Mexico and compensate those affected, its chief executive said, accepting that the disaster could hit plans to open new areas off the U.S. coast to drilling.