2 killed, 10 injured in oil rig accident off Mexico’s coast

At least two workers have lost their lives and 10 others have been wounded on an oil platform off Mexico’s coast in an accident blamed on the collapse of one of the rig’s legs.

The Troll Solution rig was maneuvering to carry out offshore maintenance when the accident happened in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, State oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said in a statement.

Emergency boats evacuated 101 workers from the rig after “a failure of one of its legs” caused a partial collapse, the statement added.

Mexican corporation Grupo Salinas, the parent company of the rig’s owner, Typhoon Offshore, said in a statement that all required safety measures had been put in place before the incident.

“The platform has all the safety mechanisms necessary for an infrastructure of this magnitude,” the statement noted, adding, “Unfortunately, despite safety measures, accidents happen.”

No oil leak has been spotted in the area, and the well was closed off following the accident, said Luciano Pascoe, the spokesman for Grupo Salinas.

The company’s officials have pledged to cooperate in an investigation into the collapse announced by federal prosecutors.

It was the second incident in five weeks to hit Mexico’s offshore oil industry. On April 1, a fire on another rig in the southern end of the Gulf of Mexico killed four workers and injured dozens of others.