11 US oil rig workers are missing, and 17 are injured after an explosion at a Transocean drilling rig off the Louisiana coast.

The US Coast Guard has deployed helicopters, planes and vessels to search for the missing. An estimate 126 people were aboard the Deepwater Horizon Rig at the time of the explosion.

The rig is about 70 kilometers southeast of Venice, Louisiana. The Coast Guard said it will be conducting an investigation into the cause of the explosion with BP and the U.S. Minerals Management Service.