All Workers Aboard 'Vermillion 380' Rig Rescued; Coast Guard Reports Oil Sheen at Explosion Site

VERMILION BAY - ABC26 News has confirmed that 13 workers were rescued from the 'Vermillion 380' oil rig after an explosion Thursday morning. Only one injury was reported.
By Thursday afternoon, ABC26 News reporter Jon Huffman had confirmed with Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma that none of the rig workers were injured.

The U.S. Coast Guard tells ABC26 News that an explosion was reported on the rig, operated by Mariner Energy, at about 9:30 Thursday morning by a commercial helicopter company.

The Coast Guard reports that 13 crew members from the rig were in the water after the explosion, wearing water survival or 'gumby' suits.

"These guys had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those gumby suits before they entered the water. It speaks volumes to safety training and the importance of it because, beyond getting off the rig, there's all the hazards of the water such as hypothermia," Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said.

The crew members were picked up by a commercial ship, the Crystal Clear, and taken to another platform. Coast Guard helicopters are taking the rescued to Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma.

Federal authorities have cited Mariner Energy and related entities for 10 accidents in the Gulf of Mexico over the last four years, according to safety records from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

The accidents range from platform fires to pollution spills and a blowout, according to accident-investigation reports from the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service.

Seven helicopters are responding to the explosion: 5 rescue helicopters from New Orleans, 4 from Houston, 2 have been diverted from working at the Deepwater Horizon rig site. Four Coast Guard cutters are also on the way: the Decisive, the Harry Claiborne, the Skipjack and the Manta. One airplane, an HC-144 Guardian aircraft from the Coast Guard Training Center in Mobile, Alabama, is also en route.

There is a 5 nautical mile air traffic restriction over the Vermillion 380, which is in about 2,500 feet of water and was not currently producing, according to the Coast Guard.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said an oil sheen, about 100 feet wide and 1 mile long, was spotted near the platform, but Coast Guard officials said later in the afternoon that no sheen was present.

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay. It's 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 of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers and dumped an estimated 206 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

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