Think your job is bad? Quit whining, unless you're a shrimper in the Gulf of Mexico.
Commercial fishermen have the highest rate of on-the-job fatalities of any occupation in the country — 116 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2010. A majority of the deaths happen when a fishing vessel sinks. About a third occur when someone goes overboard.
A natural gas well in the Gulf of Mexico, located approximately 50 miles east of Venice, is releasing gas uncontrolled and has been partially evacuated, according to the well's operator and a report today in Fuel Fix, an energy news website operated in part by the Houston Chronicle.
The fire that broke out on a Gulf of Mexico oil platform this morning after an explosion has been extinguished, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The fire was put out at approximately 11:30 a.m.
Eleven people have been airlifted from the scene — four to West Jefferson Medical Center with serious injuries, including second- and third-degree burns.
Two people jumped into the water at the time of the explosion and are still missing.
The Coast Guard is investigating an oil platform that caught fire 35 miles off the Louisiana coast. Three people on the rig in the Gulf of Mexico have been safely evacuated.