Gas pipeline rupture causes undersea fire in Gulf of Mexico
Accident causes strange sight of massive flames boiling up from below the water’s surface; no injuries in incident near state-owned drilling platform
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s state-owned oil company said Friday it suffered a rupture in an undersea gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, sending flames boiling to the surface in the Gulf waters.
Petroleos Mexicanos said it had dispatched fire control boats to pump more water over the flames.
Pemex, as the company is known, said nobody was injured in the incident in the offshore Ku-Maloob-Zaap field.
The leak near dawn Friday occurred about 150 yards (meters) from a drilling platform. The company said it had brought the gas leak under control about five hours later.
But the accident gave rise to the strange sight of roiling balls of flame boiling up from below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. According to Reuters, the sight was dubbed an “eye of fire” on social media due to the blaze’s circular shape
It was unclear how much environmental damage the gas leak and oceanic fireball had caused.
This is not a Bruce Willis movie. Ruptured gas pipeline burns in the Gulf of Mexico https://t.co/leuQKuX4pt pic.twitter.com/FbuE8Iw2GZ
— Prof Jamie Woodward (@Jamie_Woodward_) July 3, 2021
Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote that “the frightening footage of the Gulf of Mexico is showing the world that offshore drilling is dirty and dangerous.”
Burst oil pipeline is literally boiling the oceans pic.twitter.com/36CD6TJAen
— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) July 2, 2021
Sakashita added, “These horrific accidents will continue to harm the Gulf if we don’t end offshore drilling once and for all.”
TOI staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.