The state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, reported this Friday that two of the five missing workers were located after a fire at the Tuzandepetl Trench area in southern Mexico. The bodies are being examined by the Forensic Service with prior authorization from the Federal Public Service, according to a Pemex statement.
On Thursday afternoon, the drilling rig PM-119, which served the Tuzandepetl-331 Gap in the Ixhuatlán del Sureste municipality of Veracruz, caught fire without an announced cause. Pemex also noted that efforts to locate the remaining three missing workers continue.
Pemex provided an update on the injured personnel: the two workers are receiving care in a public hospital under stable conditions. They will undergo cleaning procedures, and teams will persist in investigating the factors that led to this incident. The fire could be seen from several kilometers away, affecting different areas across the southern state of Veracruz. Pemex stated that efforts to determine the fire’s causes at the drilling equipment are ongoing, and ground cleaning activities will proceed.
The facilities where the blaze started are part of the Tuzandepetl Strategic Storage Facility’s space rehabilitation project in the Ixhuatlán del Sureste municipality, Veracruz.
Earlier on Thursday, before the Tuzandepetl incident, an initial fire was reported at the Lázaro Cárdenas refinery in Minatitlán. The refinery is among Latin America’s largest, and five additional workers sustained first and second degree burns. Pemex indicated that product spillage onto a hot surface was the likely trigger for that fire.
Officials stressed that the investigation aims to establish precise causes for both incidents, while rescue crews and safety teams continue to secure the affected sites and assess any ongoing risks. The company emphasized its commitment to transparency in reporting the developments and to taking corrective measures to prevent future events across its operations in Veracruz and other facilities.