UPDATED Thursday, September 2, 2010 --- 3:55 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) -- The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said Thursday afternoon that crews was unable to confirm the oil sheen. The Coast Guard says platform owner Mariner Energy reported a sheen about a mile long and 100 feet wide. But the company has said in a statement that an initial flyover didn't find an oil spill.

Ben-lesau says the fire on the platform has been put out. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

___________________________________________________

UPDATED Thursday, September 2, 2010 --- 1:00 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) -- The Coast Guard is saying that a mile-long oil sheen is spreading from the site off an offshore petroleum platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana.

The site of the explosion is west of where BP's massive spill occurred.

The Coast Guard said no one was killed Thursday in the explosion. The blast was spotted by a commercial helicopter flying over the site.

All 13 people aboard the rig were found floating in the water in survival gear.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

___________________________________________________

UPDATED Thursday, September 2, 2010 --- 11:30 a.m.

GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) -- The Coast Guard says no one has been killed in an explosion and fire on an offshore petroleum platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

All 13 people aboard the rig have been accounted for, with one injury. The extent of the injury isn't known.

The Coast Guard says some of the people from the rig were spotted in emergency flotation devices.

Today's explosion happened about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast. That's west of the site of the April explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP that caused the massive oil spill.

Authorities don't know whether any oil is leaking from this site.

The Department of Homeland Security says the platform is in about 2,500 feet of water. DHS says it's owned by Mariner Energy of Houston and wasn't producing oil and gas.

Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene from New Orleans, Houston and Mobile, Ala.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

___________________________________________________

UPDATED Thursday, September 2, 2010 --- 11:05 a.m.

From the Associated Press:

GRAND ISLE, La. – An offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill.

A commercial helicopter company reported the blast around 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel said. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats were en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast.

The Coast Guard said initial reports indicated all 13 crew members from the rig were in the water. One was injured, but there were no deaths.

The platform owned by Mariner Energy is in about 2,500 feet of water, the Coast Guard said, and was not currently producing.

About 206 million gallons of oil from an undersea well spilled into the Gulf after BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.

___________________________________________________

Posted Thursday, September 2, 2010 --- 10:40 a.m.

GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) -- An offshore oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel says the blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company about 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast.

Ranel says it hasn't been determined whether the structure is a production platform or a drilling rig or whether workers were aboard. Ranel says smoke was reported but it is unclear whether the rig is still burning.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.