A fire off the coast of Mexico, that caused the oceans surface to catch fire has been extinguished according to state oil company Pemex. The company have blamed the incident on a gas leak that was detected in the 12-inch submarine pipeline that connects to a platform.

Images from the fire were shared around the world as the fire, which was just meters from the nearby oil platform, began to spread further. So far there has been no confirmed reports of injuries or fatalities, and Pemex have confirmed that the blaze took firefighting ships five hours to completely extinguish the fire with nitrogen.

Early reports suggested that the incident started due to a spill from the pipeline, however, Executive director of Mexico’s oil safety regulatory agency, Ángel Carrizales tweeted: “The ASEA follows up on the event that occurred this morning in the Sonda de #Campeche , related to a line of #gas , which has already been attended and controlled by personnel from Pemex in accordance with its Emergency Response Protocols. The event did not generate any spill.” Despite his claims, some believe that the incident could only happen with some spillage.

The incident has caused fresh debate online as to whether offshore operations offer a safe, sustainable solution.

Pemex, who have previous history with industrial incidents have said in a statement they are investigating the cause of the gas leak, and the subsequent fire.