VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico — Mexico’s state oil company said Friday it was searching for 10 workers from a Texas-based company, including four Americans, who evacuated from a research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of Tropical Storm Nate.
Petroleos Mexicanos said it has two ships searching in the area where the workers, employed by Houston-based Geokinetics Inc., called for help Thursday afternoon after leaving a vessel known as a liftboat, the Trinity II, on an enclosed life raft.
“We’re deeply concerned about the incident in the Gulf of Mexico involving our employees and others who had to abandon a disabled liftboat due to conditions brought about by Tropical Storm Nate,” said Geokinetics spokeswoman Brenda Taquino. “The safety and rescue of the employees, everyone on the life raft, is a top priority.”
On board were four crew members who operate the liftboat, three contractors and three employees of Geokinetics, which specializes in seismic studies for the oil and gas industry.
The captain reported they were abandoning the vessel about midday Thursday, and a ship several miles away also reported seeing the crew enter the life raft.
But there has been no communication since.
Taquino said the life raft is a sealed capsule that contains enough food and water to last for several days, but there is no way to communicate with it.
Tropical Storm Nate was drifting slowly west-southwest over the southern Gulf on Friday with maximum sustained winds of near 50 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
