At least two oil workers have died during a fire on an oil platform in the Republic of Congo.
The oil platform, some 570km (350 miles) from the capital, Brazzaville, is operated by petroleum giant, Total.
The French group said it did not know the cause of the blaze at the Kossa oil field off Congo's coast.
The country's oil ministry said it had started an investigation into the cause of the fire, which halted production at the 60,000 barrel-per-day field.
"There are two injured who have been taken to Pointe Noire: one Congolese and one Australian," a Total spokeswoman told Reuters news agency.
A ministry official said that both of the men who had died were Congolese oil workers. Reports said a burnt-out fishing vessel had been found near the platform.
Congo is the fifth largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and the Kossa oil field is the largest in the former French colony.
(BBC News, 10/05/2007)