Workers killed, oil spilled in rig accident off Mexico

At least 10 oil workers were killed when a drilling platform hit an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, spilling gas and oil into the sea, Mexico's state-owned oil company said Wednesday.

Some other workers were still missing.

Rescuers have pulled 58 oil workers from storm-tossed waters but have yet to control the oil leak, Mexico's oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos(also known as Pemex) said in a news release issued in Mexico City.

At least 18 employees of the state oil company were still either floating at sea in life-rafts or were unaccounted for, it said. The company said it had located a raft but "weather conditions in the area have made it impossible to reach the vessel."

ThePemex releasesaid 81 workers abandoned a subcontractor's Usumacinta platform Tuesday after it hit the Kab 101 light-production rig amid eight-metre waves and winds gusting to 130 km/h.

It was not immediately clear how much gas and oil had spilled from the accident about32 kilometres off the port of Dos Bocas in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco.

The storm forced Mexico's main oil ports to close. They remained closed Wednesday, Pemex said.

The company said Tuesday the crash knocked out some controls on a valve.

The Usumacinta drilling rig is owned by the Compania Perforadora Central SA de CV and operates under contract to Pemex.