Crews search air, water for missing worker
KENNER, La. (AP) — Authorities searched by air and water Monday for a Texas man who disappeared when an oil and gas platform exploded on a lake near New Orleans. Seven people were injured in the Sunday night blast and fire, including three who were in critical condition, authorities said.
The explosion happened on an oil and gas transfer facility in Lake Pontchartrain. The platform was on waters just north of the suburban city of Kenner in Jefferson Parish. The parish sheriff, Joe Lopinto, identified the missing man as Timothy Morrison, 44, of Katy, Texas, a subcontractor on the structure.
The Coast Guard reported that a fire aboard the platform was out by midday and that aerial surveys showed no signs of pollution in the water or onshore. A Coast Guard helicopter, a Jefferson Parish helicopter, Coast Guard vessels and boats from local agencies, continued looking for Morrison.
Lopinto told reporters searching the platform itself was difficult.
“There is a lot of structural damage to the rig. We have a lot of metal, twisted metal that is covering certain areas and we’re going to have to go back out there with different equipment when the weather permits,” Lopinto said.
High winds made boarding the damaged structure difficult, he said.
The Clovelly Oil Co. platform exploded while maintenance was being done on the structure, sending a fireball high into the night sky, authorities and company officials said. The Kenner government Facebook page said authorities on the scene reported that cleaning chemicals had ignited on the structure, but the company said the cause of the blast was unknown. Lopinto stressed that the cause remained under investigation.
Lopinto said that “cleaning” work on the structure could pertain to the processing of gas.
Residents along the shores of the lake said their homes shook about 7:15 p.m. Some reported that the air smelled of burning rubber.
A statement from Clovelly Oil said three oil wells near the platform were shut in at the time of the explosion and its one gas well was flowing, but was successfully shutin shortly after the explosion. Clovelly does not know if any oil was released into the lake.
The platform is a storage and accumulation point for oil and gas from a number of wells, company spokesman Tim O’Leary said.
“It’s basically an underwater storage tank. It takes oil and gas” from wells, he said. Once the tank is filled, the oil or gas is pumped into a barge and moved.