Lawco.com

NEW ORLEANS, LA – The US Coast Guard held a press conference at 3:00 p.m. at Coast Guard 8th District headquarters in the Hale Boggs building in the New Orleans Central Business District to update the status of the oil rig explosion of Deepwater Horizon that took place Tuesday night at 10:00 PM in the Gulf of Mexico 52 miles off the coast of Venice, LA.

Rear Adm. Mary Landry, commander of the Coast Guard’s 8th district headquarters; David Hayes, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of the Interior; Adrian Rose, vice president of Transocean; and David Rainey and vice president of BP were at the conference to answer questions…

Unfortunately there is no news on the whereabouts of the missing workers.

“We have no idea where the 11 unaccounted-for personnel are,” Landry said.

This is not the news that the families, who are anxiously awaiting news of their missing loved ones, wanted to hear.

The Coast Guard was notified of the fire at 10 p.m and told that platform workers were evacuating, she said.

There were 126 people on the unit, 11 of whom are still unaccounted for. The case is “an ongoing rescue case,” Landry said.

Rose said the cause of the accident is still unknown.

There were six BP workers on the rig at the time of the accident and 29 Transocean. The rest were “third-party personnel,” Rose said. Three of the injured workers are critical, he said.

He said Transocean is “deeply saddened” by the event. He gave the family response-team number for families of workers on the rig: 832.587.5110.

Rainey said BP’s primary focus for now is supporting the Coast Guard’s rescue effort and provide support for the injured.

Rainey said any pollution is minor at this time.

MAP

Deputy Interior Secretary Hayes said Interior has set up a command center here to respond to the accident.

“Continuing the search and rescue mission” is the primary focus now, Hayes said.

An oil-spill response team has also been set up, he said.

Adm. Landry said the search and rescue will continue through the night if necessary and the Coast Guard has the equipment it needs to search during dark or foggy conditions.

Conditions for search-and-rescue are good, Landry said. Most of the spilled fuel is burning off and is still burning as of 3 p.m.

Platform crews are still on their way in to shore and have not been interviewed about the incident, one of the company officials said.

Adm. Landry said “tremendous resources” can be brought to bear in response to this accident.

Nola.com contributed to this story.

---

The law firm of Gordon, Elias & Seely, L.L.P. is quite versed in successfully suing Transocean. Just this year alone, they represented the family of one of the most deadly accidents that ever occurred in Transocean’s history. If you or a family member have been affected by this tragedy, contact their maritime lawyers directly at 800-773-6770, 713-668-9999, or 800-491-3377. Their lawyers are licensed in Texas and their offices are in Houston where Transocean is situated. Steve Gordon is also licensed in Louisiana.