Sources: Oil rig explosion in Venezuela causes at least 17 injuries to workers

Three sources said on Monday that an explosion occurred late Sunday at a rig operated by the state-owned?oil 'company PDVSA, in Venezuela's central region of Los Llanos. At least 17 workers were injured, two of whom suffered severe burns. Accident occurred on PDVSA’s Colven '02 rig located in Apure state. According to sources, some of the injured workers were taken to Colombia for medical attention, and others to the nearby town of Guasdualito. Photos and videos on social media showed tall yellow flames with a plume black smoke. PDVSA has a deteriorating infrastructure that is prone to incidents, such as fires and outages that affect oil production and refinery operations. Last month, a similar explosion killed a worker at a 'gas processing plant' in Lake Maracaibo. PDVSA has not responded to a request for comment. The company is trying ?to restart some operations affected by two deadly earthquakes last ?week, including its smallest ?refinery, the 146,000-barrel-per-day El ?Palito in central Carabobo state. Reporting by Mariela Nava, Marianna Parraga, and DeisyBuitrago. Editing by Padraic Cassdy.

(source: Reuters)