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The Gulf of Mexico burst into flames after a pipeline ruptured and the footage is horrifying

The Gulf of Mexico burst into flames after a pipeline ruptured and the footage is horrifying

In scenes which look like the gates of Hell have opened up to consume us all, a gas leak set the Gulf of Mexico – a body of water connected to the Atlantic Ocean – on fire on Friday.

According to the petrol company Pemex, the leak - which caused the surface of the ocean to burn bright orange - was extinguished 150 yards away from a drilling platform in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

Nitrogen was reportedly used to bring the fire under control. No injuries were reported, and no one was evacuated.

The fire is the latest incident to affect Pemex’s operations, after a build-up of gas caused an explosion at the company’s Mexico City headquarters, killing 37 people.

Two years later, four employees were killed, 16 were injured and more than 300 people were evacuated after Pemex’s Abkatun A-Permanente platform – also on the Gulf of Mexico – exploded.

Videos of Friday’s fire have since gone viral online, with one Twitter user writing that it is “one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen in my life”:

Others memed attempts to put out the fire after images appeared to show one vessel spraying water into the ocean, a fair distance away from the flames:

You know something is seriously wrong when we manage to set the ocean on fire, people.

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