A fire on an oil platform off the coast of Gabon has killed at least five people and one person is missing, its operator Franco-British energy company Perenco said on Thursday.
The blaze broke out on Wednesday afternoon on the Becuna platform owned by Perenco Oil and Gas and located off the Tchatamba oil terminal on the central African nation's southeast coast.
"We deeply regret to confirm that there have been five fatalities and one person is still missing," Perenco said in a statement.
The company had announced overnight that five people were missing and two were injured.
Serious burns
One of the injured suffered serious burns, Gabon's oil ministry also said on Thursday.
"The fire has been extinguished and the site has been safely secured," Perenco said, adding that emergency teams were searching for the missing person.
Gabonese Oil Minister Marcel Abeke said in a statement the "tragedy" was "the most serious in the history of oil exploitation in our country."
Abeke said: "All light will be shed on the circumstances that led to this accident and the lessons that must be drawn from it".
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