Two people were missing and four people were airlifted to a hospital Friday after an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico some 17 miles southeast of Grand Isle, La., the U.S. Coast Guard told NBC News.
Rescue crews were searching the waters for the two. Officials did not immediately release the names of the missing or the injured.
The fire was later extinguished and 28 people had been aboard the rig, the Coast Guard said.
It was not known if the fire had caused a spill.
The platform is a shallow-water production platform, unlike BP's Macondo well in mile-deep water that blew out in 2010. That disaster led to an explosion that killed 11 workers and caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The owner of the platform is Houston-based Black Elk Energy. On its website, the company stated that this month it was starting to drill the first of 23 new wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
Last Sunday, The Houston Chronicle named Black Elk Energy as one of the top small businesses to work for in Houston. The oil and gas company ranked 41st on the list of 150 best places to work based on employee surveys.
The new explosion came a day after BP settled criminal charges in the Macondo disaster by agreeing to pay $4.5 billion in penalties. It still faces up to $20 billion in civil fines.
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