A tragic fire Tuesday night at an offshore oil platform owned by Houston's Transocean Ltd., and leased by BP PLC, underscores the dangers to offshore oil rig and oil platform workers, who labor in what is one of the riskiest jobs in America.

In this case, the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform, anchored about 50 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River off the coast in Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, erupted in flames. The fire left 11-15 workers missing and being sought by Coast Guard rescuers. The Coast Guard also has set up a next-of-kin hotline.

Most of the other 126 crew members have been accounted for, but seven were reportedly injured critically and had to be transported to hospitals in Louisiana and Alabama, including hospital burn units.

The platform reportedly is listing 10 degrees and was still burning Wednesday morning. According to Transocean, the drilling rig was being used to drill but was not in production.

Oil rig or oil platform workers such as those on the fiery platform are sometimes exposed to dangers via negligence by the owner or operator of an oil rig, drilling rig or offshore oil platform on which they toil. Offshore drilling for oil is an enormously costly venture, geared to drill in water up to 8,000 feet deep and then bore down into the Earth for miles. But those costs must include adequate safeguards to ensure that workers are not exposed to catastrophic injury or even death due to a failure of the oil rig or oil platform.

When such tragedies occur, victims and their families are entitled to financial compensation, often as provided for under the Jones Act, which protects workers who are harmed at sea.

An oil platform attorney is ready and able to help such families in a time of crisis by exploring an oil rig or oil platform lawsuit. Such legal action can be designed to gain fair and fitting economic recovery for victims' medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.

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