It’s officially the apocalypse people: Not only is the world facing an unprecedented pandemic, but the ocean was on fire today and I didn’t even know that was possible.
A gas pipeline leak in the Gulf of Mexico this morning has sent flames boiling to the surface in what looks like a portal to hell. The Mexican state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), said it suffered a rupture in an undersea gas pipe and had dispatched fire control boats to essentially put water on more water.
🚨 Incendio registrado en aguas del Golfo de México
A 400 metros de la plataforma Ku-Charly (dentro del Activo Integral de Producción Ku Maloob Zaap)
Una válvula de una línea submarina habría reventado y provocado el incendio
Esta fuera de control hace 8 horas pic.twitter.com/KceOTDU1kX
— Manuel Lopez San Martin (@MLopezSanMartin) July 2, 2021
It took five hours for the oil company to put the flames out, but those flames have finally be extinguished, according to the ABC.
Pemex also said no injuries were reported and production from the project was not affected.
Videos of the accident have taken the internet by storm, because as I said, the flames looked like a portal to hell. Earth are you ok? Because at this point, it really seems like you aren’t.
“Pretty sure this is a sign of the apocalypse,” one person commented on the above video.
“Someone please explain how this is possible,” wrote another.
The company has a long history of major industrial accidents. In 2019, an explosion during a fuel theft attempt in a Pemex pipeline left 114 people dead.
However, their biggest accident occurred in 1984 when an LPG plant blew up in Mexico City, killing hundreds of people. The exact figure is still contested and some residents believe the number of deaths is in the thousands.
While there were no human fatalities in the blaze today, it’s unclear how much environmental damage the gas leak caused.
“The frightening footage of the Gulf of Mexico is showing the world that offshore drilling is dirty and dangerous,” Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the Centre for Biological Diversity told The Washington Post.
“These horrific accidents will continue to harm the Gulf if we don’t end offshore drilling once and for all.”
