An oil rig has exploded 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana, with 12 people overboard and one missing, the Coast Guard said Thursday morning.
UPDATE: The rig is owned by Mariner Energy. And leased to….??? Well, we don't know yet.
UPDATE #2: It bears mentioning that this is NOT a deep-sea oil well, unlike BP's Deepwater Horizon, and reports are that this was a production platform (again unlike BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform). So that's all good news. On the other hand, it exploded…. so, not so good.
UPDATE #3: Local news is reporting that Coast Guard has spotted mile-long "oil sheen" emanating from the platform.