The Coast Guard is still searching for 11 crewmembers who disappeared following an explosion aboard the semi-submerged rig about 50 miles southeast of Venice, La., on Tuesday.

There were 126 people aboard the rig at the time. Most of the crew was ferried off the burning rig by nearby boats, the Coast Guard says. At least 17 people were injured; four critically.

The accident took place 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana on the Vermilion Oil rig 380, which is owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy.

A Coast Guard official says that the rig could spill up to 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day, and that it carried 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel, much of it likely consumed by the fire.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said crews have reported a 1-mile-by-5-mile "sheen" on the surface, though she told AP there is not yet evidence that crude was coming out of the rig after it sank. But she added that it's yet clear what is happening underwater.

The spill is not expected to come ashore for three or four days, depending on winds, an official with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration told AP. If it reaches shore, environmentalists are predicting a disaster.

 http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/04/cnn-burning-oil-rig-sinks-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/1?csp=obinsite