Company says helicopter accident kills 2 in Gulf of Mexico
A helicopter accident in the Gulf of Mexico killed two employees of Air Logistics, a company that provides transportation to offshore oil and gas platforms, the company said Friday in a news release.
The accident happened Thursday but the company released few details, including the approximate location of the accident in the Gulf.
“The aircraft, a single engine Bell helicopter, reportedly departed one production platform and was planning to land at a nearby platform when the accident occurred,” a release from Air Logistics’ parent company, Offshore Logistics Inc., said. “The families of the employees involved have been notified and the Company is responding to the tragedy.”
Brian Voegle, a company spokesman in Houston, said the appropriate authorities had been notified, including the National Transportation Safety Board. He said he had few other details and declined further comment.
Offshore Logistics and its subsidiaries provide helicopter transportation services to the oil and gas industry worldwide.
More: nola.com
Mexico security minister killed in helicopter crash
Mexico's public security minister, a key figure in the war against drug cartels, was killed along with eight others on Wednesday when his helicopter crashed in fog in mountains near the capital.
Rescue workers found the charred wreckage of Ramon Martin Huerta's helicopter six hours after contact was lost early into a flight from the capital to a high-security prison.
In a televised address, President Vicente Fox vowed to push on with his fight against violent gangs running drugs into the United States.
"Today, more than ever, I repeat the commitment of my government and of
Mexico copter crash called accident
All available evidence on Thursday suggested bad weather led to a helicopter crash that killed a Cabinet minister overseeing federal police and his deputy, the president's office announced.
The helicopter carried Public Safety Secretary Ramon Martin Huerta, Federal Preventive Police Commissioner Tomas Valencia, five other passengers and a crew of two. It took off from Mexico City and crashed into a wooded mountainside about 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside Mexico City.
"All the elements that we have at hand, all the experts that were consulted, say that there is sufficient evidence to consider that that we are
Mexico minister in crash had received death threats
A Mexican anti-drug minister who died in a helicopter crash last week had received death threats but his death was most likely an accident, the government said on Monday.
Public Security Minister Ramon Martin Huerta, a key figure in the government's fight against drug traffickers, and eight others were killed last Wednesday when the helicopter carrying them slammed into a fog-shrouded mountain near the capital.
"Yes, he had received death threats, like many other public servants," presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar told reporters.
He said government officials frequently received anonymous death threats by telephone or letter.
"It's part
Petrobras Says It Discovers Gas Reserves in Gulf of Mexico Well
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, found gas reserves in a well in Gulf of Mexico, the company said in a statement sent by e-mail last night.
The company said it found gas in the first well operated by its Petrobras America unit. The company said gas reserves are of ``high quality.'' The Rio de Janeiro-based company owns 80 percent of the reserve, the statement said.
More: bloomberg.com
Firework factory explosion kills 5 in Mexico
An explosion at a fireworks factory in southern Mexico killed at least five people on Tuesday, an emergency services official said.
The civil protection agency said the factory in the town of Magdalena Apasco in Oaxaca state did not have a license to manufacture fireworks.
"Five people died there, all of them burned in the explosion," the official told Reuters by telephone.
Last week, three people were killed in a similar accident at another unlicensed fireworks plant in Oaxaca state.
Firework accidents are common, as Mexico produces masses of cheap pyrotechnics for Christmas and year-end festivities, as well
New security mininster appointed after helicopter crash in Mexico
Mexican President Vicente Fox on Thursday appointed Rafael Rios as the new public security minister after his predecessor Martin Huerta was killed in a helicopter crash.
Rios is undersecretary for citizen participation and criminal policy in the ministry. He spent most of his career in the National Security and Investigation Center, the government's intelligence institution.
Meanwhile, Tomas Valencia, another top official killed in the crash, will be replaced by Arturo Jimenez as the Federal Police Commander.
The National Human Rights Commission has not announced who is to replace Jose Antonio Bernal, inspector
Lightning Kills Five Children Decorating Metal Cross in Mexico
Five children were killed and nine people were injured in central Mexico when lightning bolts struck a metal cross on a hillside as people decorated the cross in preparation for a May 3 religious holiday, authorities reported on Monday.
The accident occurred late Sunday at a rural site near the town of Santa Maria del Rio, in the state of San Luis Potosi, about 180 miles north of Mexico City.
The children were part of a group cleaning and decorating the approximately 10-meter (yard) tall cross in preparation for the May 3 Catholic
Update on Status of ENSCO Gulf of Mexico Rig Fleet
ENSCO International Incorporated (NYSE:ESV) confirmed reports that the towline parted on its deepwater semisubmersible rig, ENSCO 7500, while the rig was under tow away from the path of Hurricane Katrina early Sunday morning. Due to deteriorating weather conditions, the towline could not be reconnected and the rig was evacuated prior to suspension of helicopter service in advance of the storm. All personnel on board were safely transported to shore. ENSCO 7500 had been engaged in drilling activity in Green Canyon 652 and secured the well prior to initiation of hurricane response
Mexico Update No Survivors In Mexican Police Copter Crash
"They All Died In The Line Of Duty"
The Mexican government helicopter previously reported missing by Aero-News has been found. It crashed west of Mexico City, striking a piney mountainside at 11,200 feet in what appears to have been controlled flight. There was a postcrash fire.
All nine aboard the aircraft died, including Public Safety Secretary Ramon Martin Huerta, Federal Preventive Police Commissioner Tomas Valencia, other officials, and the two-man flight crew.
The helicopter was not an Mi-17 as Aero-News speculated, it was a Bell 412.
The aircraft was taking the VIPs to La Palma maximum-security
Plane crash in northern Iowa kills two
Two people were killed and two others injured when a small plane crashed Wednesday in a northeast Iowa cornfield, a federal official said.
The accident happened about 11 a.m. near Cresco just south of the Minnesota border. The victims names werent immediately released.
There is a plane down. We understand there were four aboard and two fatalities, Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Chicago, said. (updated 2:49pm)
Iowa guardsmen to patrol U.S.-Mexico border
DES MOINES (AP) — Soldiers from the Iowa National Guard will patrol the U.S. border with Mexico as
