On April 20, 2010 the oil well of British Petroleum in the gulf of Mexico exploded killing at least 11 rig workers and sinking the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Today, BP announced that the ruptured well will be sealed off for good by the mid of September.
The cleanup of the gulf of Mexico from the oil spilled by the BP’s oil well is not yet finished. Hundreds of thousands of people, thousands of vessels and dozens of aircraft are still involved in the cleaning.
On Thursday, another rig in the gulf of Mexico exploded. The Vermilion oil rig is owned by the Mariner Energy of Houston. The 13 workers of it, 12 were wearing with the emergency suits jumped into the gulf and were rescued safely by a supply ship. They were on the water for atleast two hours and most of them suffering from sunburn. No one was killed during the accident and no one was seriously injured.
The Mariner Energy reported earlier that a mile-long sheen was visible near the exploded rig but when the coast guard checked the area they found nothing. The Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said that the rig was under maintenance and was not producing oil during the time of the explosion. The 13 people on board the rig were blasting paint and rust and the other were doing regular oil field works.
The official cause of the explosion is not yet known. However, it was reported the fire was fueled by 100 barrels of oil on the rig but not from the the well.