An explosion on an offshore oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico has killed one person and injured three.

A fire has broken out on a blown-out gas well in the Gulf of Mexico.

An explosion and fire ripped through a Gulf oil platform in the US today as workers used a cutting torch, sending four people to a hospital with burns and leaving two missing in the sea off Louisiana.

The centre of Tropical Storm Isaac’s projected path is heading directly for New Orleans and could make landfall as early as tonight, nearly seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.