Charlotte Anglade –
—
The images seem to come straight out of a science fiction film. They were however shot by Mexican television. At around 5 a.m. local time on Friday, a fire broke out on the surface of the ocean west of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, forming a spectacular “eye of fire”. The state-owned oil company Pemex says it started from a gas leak from an undersea pipeline, 150 meters from its oil platform named Ku Maloob Zaap. It took 5 hours for the emergency services to extinguish the fire, using nitrogen.
–
According to Pemex, who spoke in a press release, no injuries were reported and production was not affected by this fire. The company, which has several major industrial accidents to its credit, said it had closed the pipeline valves. She added that she would investigate the cause of the fire. According to a Pemex incident report shared by Reuters, the platform’s production facilities were hit by a thunderstorm. Angel Carrizales, executive director of the Agency for Safety, Energy and the Environment for the Hydrocarbons Sector in Mexico, also indicated on Twitter that the incident “did not generate any spill”.
–
