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Posted in Gulf Coast,Louisiana Maritime News,Maritime Accidents,Texas Maritime News,World Maritime News on September 11, 2011
Ten oil workers employed by Houston-based Geokinetics Inc who called for help on Thursday morning on Sept 8 after abandoning a vessel known as Trinity II, are still missing in Mexico. As of Saturday afternoon, Sept 10, rescue efforts had found no sign of the 10 missing workers according to authorities.
According to upstreamonline.com: Mexican state oil company Pemex found the partially submerged 94-foot, 185-ton Trinity II liftboat in the Bay of Campeche, but there were no signs of the lifeboat holding ten offshore workers and crew members, according to media reports in Mexico.
The workers had boarded the liftboat Thursday morning, but the ship became disabled and they boarded a life raft instead. According to Geokinetics Inc. website the rescue efforts were initially hampered by the inclement weather.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said that Tropical Storm Nate which was heading west toward the Gulf Coast of Mexico, was expected to become a hurricane before reaching land by late Sunday.
The missing include four US workers, four Mexican workers, one worker from Kazakhstan and a 10th of unconfirmed nationality according to an official at the port of Dos Bocas, who wished to remain anonymous.
“We’re deeply concerned about the incident in the Gulf of Mexico involving our employees and others who had to abandon a disabled liftboat due to conditions brought about by Tropical Storm Nate,” Geokinetics spokeswoman Brenda Taquino said. “The safety and rescue of the employees, everyone on the life raft, is a top priority.”
CBS42.com reports:
Taquino said the company learned Thursday morning that the 94-foot, 185-ton Trinity II, contracted from Louisiana-based Trinity Liftboat Services LLC, was disabled in the Bay of Campeche because of storm conditions. A liftboat can lower legs to the sea floor and then elevate itself above the water level. This one was being used as a recording vessel and housing for the crew, and it was in waters about 25 feet (8 meters) deep.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, helicopters from the Mexican navy and the state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, left ports along the coast of Tabasco state to scour the sea. Other crews searched the beaches closest to the spot where the 10 abandoned their disabled liftboat for an enclosed life raft in the storm on Thursday.
“The hope is that we find them alive at sea,” said one navy rescuer searching the beach at Frontera on the Tabasco coast.
The Mexican navy said Friday night that sailors had reached the 29-metre, 185-tonne Trinity II but found no crew.
Geokinetics spokeswoman Brenda Taquino said the life raft was a sealed capsule containing enough food and water to last for several days, but there was no way to communicate with it.
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