INTUSK MAGAZINE

An offshore platform operated by the Mexican state oil company Pemex, which is located near the southern tip of the Gulf of Mexico, caught fire early on Friday morning, killing two workers and leaving a third unaccounted for.

Pemex claimed in tweets that all other employees had been located and that the fire had significantly decreased oil production.

A video that was going viral on social media showed the enormous platform and its maze of pipelines completely engulfed in flames as nearby boats attempted to put the fire out with hoses.

The platform operates in the company's Cantarell Field, once one of the world's most productive.

Earlier in the day, Pemex said six people had been injured in the fire, which it said started at the Nohoch-A platform and then spread to a compression platform.

It was not immediately clear on Friday evening whether the casualties were among the six injured.

Later on Friday, the company said oil production had been "impacted in a substantial way" due to the fire. Pemex did not offer further details on the impact on output.

321 of the 328 workers on the large platform had been successfully evacuated, according to a Pemex statement released early on Friday.