Oil crews abandon rigs off Alaska and Yucatan

An abandoned oil rig, torn loose from its tugboats by high winds and heavy seas settled onto a mud flat on Nelson Island in the Bering Sea.

The 39-member crew was airlifted from the rig, the Key Singapore, Tuesday night, after it broke free from tugs in 45 m.p.h. winds and 25-foot waves.

In another drilling rig incident, workers on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico off Yucatan were evacuated when natural gas leaked from an underwater duct and caught fire on the water's surface.