[imagesource: Twitter / Manuel Lopez San Martin]

Part of the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico burst into flames on Friday, with the surface of the sea burning for more than five hours before being extinguished.

While it looks like an apocalyptic scene from a sci-fi movie, “the Eye of Sauron, or a portal to hell” as VICE reports, it was in fact, a real and serious threat.

It was caused by a gas leak from an underwater pipeline that was connected to a platform at Ku Maloob Zaap oil development operated by Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, CNET reports.

An electrical storm and heavy rains also affected the turbomachinery of Ku Maloob Zaap’s active production facilities.

Apparently, nobody was injured and the workers controlled the fire with nitrogen.

The videos, shared by Manuel Lopez San Martin, quickly went viral:

? Incendio registrado en aguas del Golfo de México

A 400 metros de la plataforma Ku-Charly (dentro del Activo Integral de Producción Ku Maloob Zaap)

Una válvula de una línea submarina habría reventado y provocado el incendio

Esta fuera de control hace 8 horas pic.twitter.com/KceOTDU1kX

— Manuel Lopez San Martin (@MLopezSanMartin) July 2, 2021

? Sobre el incendio registrado en aguas del Golfo de México, en la Sonda de Campeche, a unos metros de la plataforma Ku-Charly (dentro del Activo Integral de Producción Ku Maloob Zaap)

Tres barcos han apoyado para sofocar las llamas pic.twitter.com/thIOl8PLQo

— Manuel Lopez San Martin (@MLopezSanMartin) July 2, 2021

Props to that smaller boat on the scene, which appears to be making zero headway with regards to fighting the fire, for never giving up in the face of adversity.

Simon George, a professor of organic geochemistry at Macquarie University in Australia, explained more about how the ocean caught on fire:

“The fire was caused by methane and probably other wet gas components (ethane, propane, etc.) igniting at the ocean surface after leaking from the pipeline,” he told CNET via email.

He suggests there must have been a continuous enough stream of natural gas in the one place to sustain the fire and keep it churning, resulting in the wild images you can see above. And while a continuous flow of methane is problematic — it’s a greenhouse gas — he notes that fire may have helped contain some of the damage.

“One good thing about the fire is that it consumed some of the leaking hydrocarbons,” he said.

Pemex is apparently investigating further.

Meanwhile, environmental activists shared their concerns.

NZ Herald reported that Greenpeace Mexico said the accident illustrates the dangers of Mexico’s policy of promoting fossil fuels.

Greta Thunberg, too, weighed in:

Meanwhile the people in power call themselves "climate leaders" as they open up new oilfields, pipelines and coal power plants – granting new oil licenses exploring future oil drilling sites.
This is the world they are leaving for us. https://t.co/4hQ8nm11Fd

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 3, 2021

The co-founder of Sea Legacy, Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier, who is also a renowned conservation photographer and marine biologist, shared this to Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Cristina Mittermeier (@mitty)

[sources:cnet&vice&nzherald]