Gulf of Mexico: Five killed, six injured while two missing in a fire at offshore oil rig

At least five people lost their lives, and six were injured in a fire at an offshore oil rig owned by Mexican state-owned company Pemex. Rescue workers are searching for two missing people.

The fire also caused work to be stopped at 125 oil wells for which the platform supplies gas and electricity.

The incident comes six weeks after a gas leak in an underwater Pemex pipeline that caused a fire on the surface of the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico.

Juliblos has been dubbed "Eye of Fire", with images widely shared on social media. Both the blaze and the one that erupted on Sunday were linked to Pemex's most important oil development, Ku-Maloob Zap in the Gulf of Mexico.

The head of the company, Octavio Romero, denied that a lack of investment was due to the incidents.

"There is no lack of resources. The oil industry is a risky industry. We have had accidents that are less than in previous years," he told a news conference on Monday.

He added that this most recent fire had broken out when the crews were carrying out maintenance work on the oil platform. Pemex said production at Ku-Maloob Zap would begin by Wednesday.