5 Missing After Oklahoma Drilling Blast

Five workers were missing after a fiery explosion on Monday at an oil and gas drilling site in eastern Oklahoma, officials said. The fire had been fed by gas from a well being drilled for Red Mountain Energy by Patterson-UTI Energy Inc, preventing a full search of the scene throughout the day, but was later extinguished, the Pittsburg County Emergency Management Department said in a statement, Reuters reported. Houston-based Patterson-UTI said in a statement late on Monday the cause of the well explosion remained unclear. It said three of the five missing workers were its employees. Patterson-UTI declined to identify the workers, who were also not identified by local authorities. “Well control experts and emergency responders are on site and we will conduct a thorough investigation when the incident is fully contained,” Patterson-UTI Chief Executive Andy Hendricks said in a statement. PCEMD Director Kevin Enloe said one of the 22 workers at the site when the explosion occurred was treated for injuries and 16 others were unharmed.