Late last night, the District Eight Coast Guard command center received reports of an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon, a Transocean semisubmersible drilling rig, off the Louisiana Gulf Coast, 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.  The rig was still burning early this morning and listing heavily.

According to Marine Log, more than a dozen crew members remained missing in the early morning hours, and rescuers were searching for a lifeboat that had been seen after the explosion.  Other news sources report that at least 11 crew members are still missing.  CNN.com reports that, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, seven crew members were critically injured in the incident.

The cause of the blast is unclear, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal today.

The rig was being operated for British oil company BP, and the incident comes just five years after comes five years after an explosion and resulting fire at BP’s Texas City refinery killed 15 workers and injured scores more.