2 killed offshore at Shell Gulf platform

Two federal agencies are investigating the deaths of two offshore workers who were killed Sunday during a training exercise gone wrong at Royal Dutch Shell’s Auger platform in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Both the U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which oversees the offshore drilling industry, said they have launched investigations into the accident. Shell said it would conduct its own internal investigation as well.

The incident occurred about 215 miles south of New Orleans during a routine safety exercise of the platform’s lifeboat launch and retrieval capabilities, Shell said. Shell said no leak or release of oil was involved, but declined to provide further details of the circumstances and events surrounding the accident.

One of those killed was a Shell employee and the other a contractor with the Louisiana oil field services company Danos, Shell said. Another Shell worker was injured, treated at a local hospital and released.

Shell and Danos have not yet released the names of the victims, citing the privacy of their families.

“In the over 40 years that Shell has operated in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico we have strived, above all, to ensure our people go home safely to their loved ones. It’s devastating when they do not,” Shell said in a prepared statement. “We deeply regret this loss of life within our Shell family and community.”

“This is a very difficult day for us,” added Danos spokeswoman Renee Piper. “The investigation is ongoing. Shell is obviously involved in that, and we’re participating.”