On Sunday, an oil rig storage platform, which is in unincorporated Jefferson Parish, caught fire in Lake Pontchartrain, north of new orleans, the New York Times reported. The explosion took place at 7:19 p.m. local time.

According to Sheriff Joe Lopinto, seven injured people were taken to the hospital. He said that there is possibly one missing person, whose name was not released, that was working on the platform at the time of the explosion.

Officials are still following up on people who could be under the ruins. Search-and-rescue efforts by the Coast Guard and other responders are ongoing at the platform, which is owned by Clovelly Oil Co.

and is a storage and transfer structure for oil wells on the lake, situated near St. Charles Parish, CNN reported.

Why did it happen?

Mike Guillot, of East Jefferson Medical Hospital, where the seven victims had been taken, claimed that five people had severe burns, and their condition was critical. He added that the condition of two other people was stable.

According to local authorities, the reason behind the blast is still unclear and is being investigated. Officials from the City of Kenner, which is situated not far from the explosion, wrote on the official Facebook account that cleaning chemicals were ignited on top of the oil rig platform, but it was not confirmed whether the chemicals caught fire before or after the blast.

Firefighters are battling the fire

By Sunday night, Fire Chief Dave Tibbetts of Jefferson Parish said that the battle with the fire was ongoing, as there were many wells in that area, which transferred the oil at that point. Firefighters were trying to prevent oil from leaking into the lake, and other damaging elements that would result.

Jefferson Parish spokesman Antwan Harris announced that several people had been saved from the active fire after the blast. Eyewitnesses wrote on social media that when the explosion on the platform happened, they heard a loud noise and saw fire and smoke from Lake Pontchartrain, RT News reported.

The mayor of Kenner, Ben Zahn, stated that no houses on land were damaged in the explosion.

Andrew Love said that his house shook when the blast happened, and he thought that "it was a sonic boom or something,” the Huffington Post reported.

According to experts, Jefferson Parish’s drinking water comes from the Mississippi River, so that will not be affected by the incident.
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