Please pray for the missing eleven.

Last night, April 20 about 10 p.m. CDT, an explosion and fire erupted on the Deepwater Horizon, a semisubmersible drilling rig owned by Transocean Ltd., and contracted to BP Exploration & Production, Inc.

Of the 151 hands on board, 17 are injured and 11 still missing at this hour.

The Horizon was working in 5,000 feet of water and had just finished drilling an exploratory well to 18,000 from the surface. Speculation on the cause of the fire centers on a blowout, an uncontrolled flow of oil and gas to the surface.

The Horizon entered service in 2001. Replacement value of the rig is estimated at $600 million. It was working for BP at a day rate of just shy of $500,000 per day.

Cross-posted at RedState.com.