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Fire on Mexico oil rig kills four, injures many

April 1, 2015

At least four people died after a fire erupted on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Some 300 people have been evacuated as firefighters battle to extinguish the blaze, according to Mexico's Pemex energy company.

https://p.dw.com/p/1F1Xr
Mexiko Brand auf PEMEX Öl-Plattform Abkatun Permanente
Image: AP Photo/Noticias Ciudad del Carmen via APTN

Eight firefighting vessels are trying to put out the fire on an offshore oil platform, said Mexico's state-run oil firm Pemex on Wednesday.

Local media claims at least 45 people were injured in the early morning blaze at the Abkatun Permanente platform in the Gulf of Mexico's Campeche Sound in southeastern Mexico.

"Regrettably, the death of four workers in the accident on the Abkatun A-Permanente platform has been confirmed," Pemex wrote on its Twitter account, raising an earlier toll of one dead.

It is not immediately clear what caused the fire on the rig.

Pemex has suffered a number of fatal accidents in the recent years. In January 2013, a gas explosion at the firm's Mexico City headquarter killed 37 people. In a similar incident in September, 2012, 30 people lost their lives in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.

Pemex provides a third of Mexico's tax revenues but has been hit hard by falling oil prices in 2014.

Karte Brand Ölplattform in Mexiko ENG

shs/jil (dpa, AP, AFP, Reuters)