Coast Guard: No oil sheen from Gulf explosion

Coast Guard: No oil sheen from Gulf explosion

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said Thursday afternoon that crews was unable to confirm the oil sheen. The Coast Guard says platform owner Mariner Energy reported a sheen about a mile long and 100 feet wide. But the company has said in a statement that an initial flyover didn't find an oil spill.

Ben-lesau says the fire on the platform has been put out. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) — An oil platform exploded and caught fire Thursday off the Louisiana coast, spreading a mile-long oil sheen into the Gulf of Mexico. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water in their protective "Gumby suits."

It was the second such disaster in the gulf in less than five months. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform, 200 miles west of the site of BP's massive spill. Firefighting vessels were battling the flames.

The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the blast, which was reported by a helicopter flying over the area. Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Mariner officials told him there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly after the fire broke out.

Photos from the scene showed at least five ships floating near the platform. Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery. Light smoke could be seen drifting across the deep blue waters of the gulf.

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion.

Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor.

FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF SUDAN

Eastern Front (Sudan)

FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF SUDAN

INFO

The Eastern Front is a coalition of rebel groups operating in eastern Sudan along the border with Eritrea, particularly the states of Red Sea and Kassala. The Eastern Front's Chairman is Musa Mohamed Ahmed. While the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was the primary member of the Eastern Front, the SPLA was obliged to leave by the January 2005 agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. Their place was taken in February 2004 after the merger of the larger Beja Congress with the smaller Rashaida Free Lions, two tribal based groups of the Beja and Rashaida people, respectively. [1] The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a rebel group from Darfur in the west, then joined.

Reasons For union:

Both the Free Lions and the Beja Congress stated that government inequity in the distribution of oil profits was the cause of their rebellion. They demanded to have a greater say in the composition of the national government, which has been seen as a destabilizing influence on the agreement ending the conflict in Southern Sudan. The Eastern Front was strengthened after 17 Beja rioters were killed by police in Port Sudan in late January 2005 and angry young Beja men began to join rebel camps in Eritrea. The Eritrean government in Asmara supported the Eastern Front apparently in retaliation for Sudanese support to the Eritrean Islamist factions. Meanwhile, the JEM has formed an alliance with the Eastern Front and moved troops into the region apparently in an attempt to position itself as a national movement, rather than one limited to its Darfur homeland. The Eastern Front also demand for the liberation of Hala'ib Triangle from Egyptian occupation and its restitution to Sudanese sovereignty, as was the case prior to the 1990's.

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DR Congo oil tanker blaze 'kills 220'

Provided By BBC NEWS

DR Congo oil tanker blaze 'kills 220'

Page last updated at 11:05 GMT, Saturday, 3 July 2010 12:05 UK

Aftermath of oil tanker explosion Many people were killed when the fire engulfed their homes

At least 220 people are feared dead after an oil tanker exploded and set fire to parts of a village in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The truck, travelling from Tanzania, overturned in the village of Sange near the country's eastern border.

The fuel oil spread through the village before exploding, AFP news agency said.

Scores more people are believed injured. The UN has corrected its earlier report that five peacekeepers had died and now says none were killed.

Accidents involving tankers which catch fire are not uncommon in the region, and the death toll is often high because people try to collect spilled fuel.

Vincent Kabanga, spokesman for the South Kivu regional government, said: "A tanker truck coming from Tanzania overturned in the village of Sange.

"There was a crush [of people] and a petrol leak, there was an explosion of fuel oil which spread through the village."

The village is about 70km (40 miles) south of the town of Bukavu in South Kivu, close to the border with Burundi.
'Excessive speed'

Earlier reports said the number of dead could be as high as 270.

James Reynolds of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the toll "was likely to rise". More than 100 people were injured, he added.

The ICRC is taking medicine and body bags to the village, and preparing to fly the wounded to hospital by helicopter.

Mr Reynolds, deputy head of the ICRC delegation in the area, said: "It is a small village. When the truck turned over a lot of people gathered round. It then caught fire and spread through the village."
map

Dozens of homes, many built from earth and straw, were engulfed in the night-time fire.

It was unclear whether the truck exploded when it crashed or whether the blaze was started later.

Marcellin Cisambo, governor of South Kivu, told Reuters: "Some people were killed trying to steal the fuel, but most of the deaths were of people who were indoors watching the [World Cup] match.

A police officer based in Bukavu said the accident had been caused by the lorry's "excessive speed".

The officer, who did not give his name, said that many of the villagers who surrounded the vehicle before it exploded were children.

The village, which is home to many Congolese soldiers and their families, was "in total mourning", the officer added.

Provided By BBC NEWS

Oil Tanker Disasters In The Past 3 years

Oil Tanker Disasters In The Past 3 years

* October 2009: At least 70 people burnt to death when tanker explodes in Anambra state, Nigeria, setting fire to minibuses
* November 2008: Tanker overturns and explodes in Ghana, killing at least 22 as people scoop up fuel
* August 2008: Similar incident kills dozens of villagers in explosion in northern Cameroon
* January 2008: Dozens of people reported dead as tanker explodes near Port Harcourt, Nigeria
* March 2007: Up to 100 dead in blast after trying to collect fuel from broken-down tanker in Nigeria's Kaduna State

OIL SPILL