05:34 PM CDT on Friday, September 23, 2005

From 11 News Staff Reports

Fourteen people were rescued from a semi-submersible platform that was adrift in the Gulf of Mexico just south of Louisiana.

Transocean

The Deepwater Nautilus is a semi-submersible platform oil drilling rig.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, a Transocean semi-submersible platform was adrift about 50 nautical miles south of Grand Isle, La. Guy Cantwell, a spokesman for Transocean, said that the rig was being towed to safety Thursday afternoon in advance of Hurricane Rita when it broke free from the towing vessel.

Cantwell said that 14 people were evacuated from the platform rig around 5 p.m. Friday by private helicopter. He added that all personnel are safe and that no one was injured.

The rig is still adrift in the Gulf south of Grand Isle, La. and will be tracked by transponder, according to Cantwell.

The Deepwater Nautilus is an oil-drilling rig, which is held to the ocean floor by anchors. It was damaged by Katrina and was being repaired prior to Hurricane Rita.