Hugo Chavez tweets about Venezuelan gas platform collapse

The collapse of a natural gas platform in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela was immediately announced by President Hugo Chavez on Twitter.

Despite having previously badmouthed Twitter as a terrorist threat, and having called for more state control over the internet, Chavez has now recruited a team of 200 aides to help him manage his Twitter account, according to this article in the New Yorker spotted by Ben L.

(The Alban Pearl platform sank on the morning of 13 May, after all 95 workers had been evacuated. Venezuela's energy and oil minister, Rafael Ramirez, said there had been a problem with the flotation system of the semi-submersible platform, causing it to keel over and sink.)