As searchers comb the Gulf of Mexico from the air and from thewater off Louisiana’s coast Wednesday for oil rig workers missingafter an explosion, local Transocean employees are hoping for thebest for their co-workers.

Coast Guard officials have said at least 11 people are believed tostill be missing, but the hopes are most of the 126 people on theTransocean rig Deepwater Horizon were believed to have escapedsafely after the explosion at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. The rig,located about 52 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana’s tip, wasreported to be listing about 10 degrees and still burning Wednesdaymorning.

“I’ve never worked on the Horizon,” said Brookhaven’s GordonApplewhite, who has worked with Transocean for 17 of his 30oilfield years. “I’ve got friends that work on there, though. Youbecome good friends with these guys – like family – and whensomething like this happens with any drilling contractor, it hitsyou pretty hard.”

Applewhite said he was once in a situation where he fell overboardoff an oilrig. Based on that experience, he said he is particularlypraying for the men who are still missing.

“It’s a lonesome feeling,” he said. “I can imagine anyone that wasout there because they had to jump overboard, how they wouldfeel.”

Coast Guard officials said they hope the missing men could be alltogether in a life raft.

Brookhaven’s Rusty Everett, a driller on the Transocean rigDiscoverer Spirit, said this is a hard situation for the Transoceanfamily because whether they’re assigned to the same ship or not,they have plenty of opportunity to form bonds with oneanother.

“I know most of the people from going to these schools and thingslike that, and you have people that move off of rigs going todifferent rigs, and you’ve got friends you’ve acquired through therigs,” he said. “And that’s all you can do is pray for the familiesright now, because you know they wonder what’s going on, and nobodycan say anything until all the families been notified. My heartgoes out to them.”

Seven workers were reported critically injured, Coast Guardofficials said. Two were taken to a trauma center in Mobile, Ala.,where there is a burn unit, though the nature of their injuries hasnot been released.

Officials said many workers who escaped the rig were being broughtto land on a workboat while the search continues in the Gulf ofMexico for any signs of lifeboats.

Riggers said the possibility of an explosion is always in the backof their minds, but it comes as a shock when it happens so close tohome. They expressed faith in Transocean, however, to be takingevery possible safety precaution.

“Basically, Transocean has got one of the best ways to trainpeople, so it has to be a unique situation why this happened,”Everett said. “It’s always a possibility when you go out theresomething might happen, but the way they train their people is topnotch. This just doesn’t happen very often, of course.”

Applewhite agreed.

“Well, you know Transocean is the biggest and best drillingcontractor in the world, and they care about their people,” hesaid. “They’ve got a very good safety record.”