The Nation - News from March 21, 1989

Ships searched the Gulf of Mexico around two badly burned oil platforms but found no trace of seven men missing after explosions and fires swept through the platforms Sunday night. Thirty-five men escaped the blazing platforms, according to the Coast Guard. Ten of those were injured, two critically. The side-by-side oil production platforms just off the southeast tip of Louisiana were about 50 to 100 feet apart, with living quarters on one. The Coast Guard said men were working on natural gas lines at the time fire erupted, but a spokesman for owner Atlantic Richfield Co. said the cause of the blaze was unknown. The spokesman had no assessment of damage.