CNN oil “expert” Ali Velshi: “Rigs are some of the safest places to be”

On the CNN blog page, anchor Ali Velshi wrote that “rigs are some of the safest places to be.”


As to the Deepwater Horizon platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday night from which 11 crew are still missing and 17 critically injured, Velshi dismissed it as an aberration, calling it “a rare occurrence.”

But according to the Minerals Management Service, 39 explosions or fires occurred in the Gulf in just the first five months of 2009 alone. Since 2001, there have been 858 explosions and fires with 69 deaths and 1,349 injuries in the Gulf.

However, Velshi believes his expertise trumps the statistics.

 “As someone who has been around the oil industry, been on a rig and even been evacuated from one during an emergency, I know about the safety issues on rigs and how they are handled,” he blogged.