Click through the gallery to learn more about each man. With the damaged riser shorn from the LMRPthe top segment of the BOPthe cap was lowered into place. "When we get to the very last step, about eight of us, the other lifeboat starts descending," said Williams. I could tell I was floatin' in oil, so I swam. Full Coverage: Disaster in the GulfMore Photos, The site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is busy with boats cleaning up the spill on the surface and boats and rigs working to collect the leaking oil and shut the leak down on Saturday, May 22, 2010. He was set to leave the rig April 21. Drill deeper into the Deepwater Horizon true story by watching the Mike Williams interview and footage of the Deepwater Horizon burning and sinking. Survivors said the blast blew him off a catwalk, and that he fell more than 50 feet to the deck. ", Kemp, 27, was a derrickhand aboard the Deepwater Horizon. On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations. A dead armadillo in Waveland, Mississippi, April 7, 2011. Below is a list of the strategies used to try to contain the spill. The wellhead has been capped and BP is continuing to test the integrity of the well before resuming production. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He was survived by his wife, Sherri, and two daughters, Andrea and Alicia. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Video: Journalist Dives Into Oil SpillFull Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, A photo taken by Matthews underwater during his dive. I dont need objects to remind me of him, she says. -Deepwater Horizon: Disaster in the Gulf. Deepwater Horizon oil spill | Summary, Effects, Cause, Clean Up Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, Jacob Terrebone pours shrimp from the Bub-Poot-Nae's catch into a buyer's cooler, Sunday, May 2, 2010, at the Venice Marina in Venice, La. In the weeks leading up to the disaster, Kemp hinted to his wife, Courtney, that there were problems on the rig. On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. He was married with two children. 5 Deepwater Horizon Survivors Who Escaped The Rig Before It Sank Photos: Animals Hurt By Gulf Oil Spill Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. A worker on the oil skimmer Louisiana Responder looks over oil booms as they collect oil from a leaking pipeline that resulted from the explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana on April 27, 2010. Drilling rigs and workboats operate at the site of the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico Friday, July 16, 2010. No. Methane gas explosions ignited the rig. A study showed that up to 800,000 birds were thought to have died. Oil from last month's Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf has started drifting ashore along the Louisiana coast. Homeless in the OR city where he was once mayor, What Cheetahs, Armadillos and Whales Revealed About Human DNA, Sports on TV & radio: Local listings for Seattle games and events, She was a sex-trafficked teen. Vessels operate in the area of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on the Gulf of Mexico, July 13, 2010. The pipe, called a riser, had severed when the rig drifted after it lost power. 4 million barrels of oil flowed from the damaged Macondo well over an 87-day period, before it was finally capped on July 15, 2010. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, Dolphins swim near a boat carrying the Florida governor on a tour of oil skimming efforts in Pensacola Bay in Pensacola, Fla., Saturday, June 26, 2010. It became the largest offshore oil disaster in history, roughly 18 times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, which spilled 11 million gallons. The second had been intended to serve as a backup and was not completed. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf More Photos, This Wednesday, April 21, 2010, aerial photo shows oil in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, President Barack Obama walks with Alabama Gov. He once told his sister: Anything ever happens to me on that rig, I will make it. When he arrived, the trainee wasnt there, but Jason stayed over to clean out his locker and spend just a little more time with his rig brothers.. The real Mike Williams acknowledged accuracies "all the way down to the salt and pepper shakers in the galley." -Deepwater Horizon: Disaster in the Gulf This Coast Guard image shows flames engulfing the real Deepwater Horizon oil rig. It sank with the rig. Revette, 48, was chief driller on the oil rig. With about eight of them left on the bridge, they were about 20 yards from the lifeboat deck, which was down a flight of stairs. Bobby Jindal's staff reaches into thick oil on the surface of the northern regions of Barataria Bay in Plaquemines Parish, La., June 15, 2010. Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams had just hung up from a call with his wife when he heard the engines revving, saw the lights glowing, and heard the alarms (in the movie, his wife sees his room get brighter on a video call but in real life he was already off the call with her). And I thought, 'Well, I musta burned up, because I don't feel anything. When an attempt to employ a top kill, whereby drilling mud was pumped into the well to stanch the flow of oil, also failed, BP in early June turned to an apparatus called the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) cap. Karl Kleppinger Jr., 38, Natchez, Mississippi. The Deepwater Horizon rig disaster caused the deaths of 11 crew and a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Here are some of the harrowing scenes from the largest oil spill in US history: A boat makes its way through crude oil April 28, 2010. The rig seen in the movie is an 85% scale recreation of the actual Deepwater Horizon rig. While the movie hones in on BP's Donald Vidrine as the villain, government investigations concluded that it was his BP superiors in Houston who were largely giving the orders for the crew to get work completed on the well, which was 43 days behind schedule. Deepwater Horizon Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Ill float to an island somewhere. -Deepwater Horizon: Disaster in the Gulf. Yes. Yall dont give up on me, cuz I will make it.. A high-school football star, he spent off-time hunting and fishing. This webpage is limited to EPAs enforcement-related activities only, and does not cover all legal or other actions against BP Exploration & Production and other parties for the spill, such as private party/class action settlements for medical claims and economic damages, or other actions against those responsible for the spill. They got about 100 yards from the rig and had a front row seat to the disaster that was about to unfold. Full Coverage: Disaster in the GulfMore Photos, Rescue ships attempt to put out fires on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Thursday, April 22, 2010. Oil is seen washing ashore June 26, 2010, in Orange Beach, Alabama. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Search instead in Creative? Death Payouts in BP Spill Start at $8 Million - WSJ The true story confirms that 11 of the 126 crew members lost their lives during the April 20, 2010 blowout. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, A dragonfly tries to clean itself as it is stuck to marsh grass covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in Garden Island Bay on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana near Venice, Tuesday, May 18, 2010. NOAA, other federal and state natural resource agencies, and non-governmental organizations responded to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to assist affected wildlife. The real Donald Vidrine had faced manslaughter charges for the deaths of the 11 rig workers but the charges were thrown out by the courts. Shane M. Roshto, 22, of Liberty, Miss. Anderson was transferring to another rig, and went out to the Deepwater Horizon to train his replacement, says his widow, Shelley. He was a floor hand at the time of the disaster. Inside the Harrowing True Story of 'Deepwater Horizon' Survivor Mike Williams: 'It Haunts Me' Mike Williams says he was unable to watch scenes in the movie depicting the deaths of his fellow. It rests on the bottom about a mile below the Gulf surface. An American flag stained with oil on Dauphin Island, Alabama, June 12, 2010. NOAA is restricting commercial and recreational fishing in oil-affected portions of the Gulf of Mexico.Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf. Gordon Jones, 28, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Environmentalists are calling on the White House to speed up the restoration of the oil-damaged Mississippi River delta by getting BP PLC to pay $5 billion now for environmental damage caused by the spill. With Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Douglas M. Griffin, James DuMont. What do we know about the Deepwater Horizon disaster? - BBC He was survived by his wife, Michelle, and two sons, Stafford and Maxwell. The Deepwater Horizon Crew was a group of workers who were on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Workers use a vacuum hose to capture some of the oil washing ashore in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, June 27, 2010. Hahn rescues a heavily oiled bird from the waters of Barataria Bay which are laden with oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Barataria Bay, La., on June 26, 2010. Photos: Animals Hurt By Gulf Oil Spill Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, Plaquemines Parish coastal zone director P.J. It later emerged through documents released by Wikileaks that a similar incident had occurred on a BP-owned rig in the Caspian Sea in September 2008. Full Coverage: Disaster in the GulfMore Photos, This image of the Gulf Coast and the oil spill, taken on April 25 by NASA's Aqua satellite and using its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, shows the Mississippi Delta on the left and the wide oil slick to the right. Anderson had been with the rig since it launched from a South Korean shipyard in 2001. 4 million barrels of oil flowed from the damaged Macondo well over an 87-day period, before it was finally capped on July . He was their first-born son and second child. Yes. Key findings from our investigation into the people who got sick after The Early Days and Hours of Deepwater Horizon While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. And I kicked and I swam, and I kicked and I swam as hard as I could until I remember not feeling anymore pain. Robert. 17 were injured. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in pictures, The Perils of Industry: 10 Notable Accidents and Catastrophes, https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill, National Ocean Service - Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Oil drilling in Gulf safer, but concerns linger, report says, Deepwater Horizon oil spill: debris and oil, Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010: path of the oil, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The explosion was caused by a blowout of the well that the rig was drilling. Banners with the images of the victims -- Donald Clark, Shane Roshto, Dewey Revette, Adam Weise, Wyatt Kemp, Dale Burkeen, Jason Anderson, Karl Kleppinger, Stephen Curtis, Gordon Jones and Blair . An unidentified girl avoids puddles of oil on the beach in Gulf Shores, Ala., Friday, July 2, 2010. "He was extremely funny with an obnoxiously contagious laugh. Omissions? In 2009, the crew had even made a hip-hop-themed music video that promoted hand safety. A dead dolphin in Plaquemines Parish alongside tar balls Aug. 5, 2010, more than 100 days after the oil disaster began. environmental disaster, Gulf of Mexico [2010]. For 87 days, oil gushed freely into the waters, leaving the beaches unusable and killing thousands of animals and destroying wildlife habitats. Every minute at least 150 gallons of oil leaked into the Gulf. A memorial shows the many things lost due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill June 6, 2010, in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Tuesday, May 18, 2010. The mobile offshore drilling platform was engulfed in flames after an explosion April 20. George Ross, a Briggs employee from Aberdeen, Scotland, watches a controlled burn of spilled oil July 10, 2010. The main deck sat 53 feet in the air and real instrument screens from similar oil rigs were used to recreate the bridge, in addition to real parts being used for the rigs construction. Stephen Ray Curtis, 40, Georgetown, Louisiana. On April 20, 2010, the oil rig exploded, resulting in the deaths of 11 workers and injuring 17 others. He was a research editor with Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. from 2008 to 2016 and worked on Britannica Blog from 2010 Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. This entailed pumping cement through a channelknown as a relief wellthat paralleled and eventually intersected the original well. Full Coverage: Disaster in the GulfMore Photos, Rescue boats spray the fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Thursday, April 22, 2010. He really was an outstanding guy. Standing behind Jindal are Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The 11 workers who died on the Deepwater Horizon Of all the efforts by all the workers and volunteers responding now to the nation's worst offshore spill, the attempts to cleanse these animals and set them free tug hardest on the heartstrings. In reviewing the film, the. I have kept pictures up in our house so Maddi will always know her daddy's face. Burkeen was a crane operator on the Deepwater Horizon and had worked for Transocean for a decade before the disaster. The defective BOP and the capping stack were removed in early September and replaced by a functioning BOP. Curtis co-workers said his turkey call was so realistic, they half expected one of the birds to land on the rig. Eleven portraits of those who died on the Deepwater Horizon "That's OK," Adam said when they teased him, "because I love my momma. A public prayer vigil for the oil spill along Pensacola Beach on June 6, 2010, in Pensacola, Florida. hwy. Oil Spill: Looking Back on 100 Days of CrudeFull Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, First published on May 26, 2010 / 3:23 PM. Once in the water, Williams described his scramble to get away from the burning oil around him. If I would ask him about it, he would express (that) he didnt want to talk about it. Photos: Animals Hurt By Gulf Oil Spill Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf Complete Coverage: Disaster in the GulfComplete Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, A dead turtle floats on a pool of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in Barataria Bay, off the coast of Louisiana, Monday, June, 7, 2010. Kemp was married. Oil spill Day 100: The 11 men who died on the Deepwater Horizon A worker picks up blobs of oil with absorbent snare on Queen Bess Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay near the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., June 4, 2010. What We Learned from the BP Oil Disaster - NRDC Keith Blair Manuel, 56, of Gonzales, La. Full Coverage: Disaster in the GulfMore Photos, In this aerial photo taken Wednesday, April 21, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns.Full Coverage: Disaster in the GulfMore Photos, In this aerial photo taken Wednesday, April 21, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns. BP supervisor on ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig dies at 69 National Guard 711 Brigade Support Battalion installs barriers on the inside shore of the Dauphin Islands, May 2, 2010. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, when an explosion damaged the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Miraculously, 115 crew members escaped the raging inferno. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. On September 17 the bottom kill maneuver was successfully executed through the first relief well. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, An oil-stained cattle egret is seen on the deck of the supply vessel Joe Griffin, at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana, Sunday, May 9, 2010. No, mainly for the fact that it was far too deep for divers. The father of three grown daughters was planning to marry his fiance when he was killed. 11 men lost. He says that hearing the hymn triggers traumatic memories of the catastrophe. Restoring the Gulf of Mexico After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010 National Coastal Condition Assessment Results and Report, National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives, Enforcement and Compliance Annual Results for FY 2022, February 17, 2012: $90 million civil settlement with, January 3, 2013: $1 billion civil settlement with, RestoreTheGulf: official federal government site for spill. Because there was no body, the family buried a memory box beneath His stone at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Eunice, Louisiana. Williams had been badly injured during the explosions, and like in the movie, was eventually hoisted into a boat, which also picked up Gina Rodriguez and then toed a life raft to safety that was about to drift under the rig. Updates? In this handout image provided be the U.S. Coast Guard, fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater. Manuel, 56, was a senior drilling fluids specialist. Deepwater Horizon | Oil Spills | Damage Assessment, Remediation, and BATON ROUGE, La. Five years later, their families -- mothers, fathers, siblings, wives and children -- soldier on without them and hold tight to their memories. Remember, the Deepwater Horizon was just looking for oil and was not there to pump it. Jason Anderson wasn't even supposed to be on the Deepwater Horizon that. Deepwater Horizon helps. More Than One Million Birds Died During Deepwater Horizon - Audubon Video of the explosions and inferno was shot by crewmembers of a nearby ship that was moving in closer to try and help. ", Burkeen, 37, was a crane operator on Deepwater Horizon for 10 years. ", Jones, 28, was a drilling fluids specialist. "You saw flames shooting out the top of the derrick. His daughter, Lacy, was 5 when he died. Embedded in his wedding band was a strand of steel cable, the same kind used on the rigs. Plaquemines Parish Coastal Zone Director P.J. Court order granting partial summary judgment of liability for the spill, criminal plea agreement with BP Exploration & Production, Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc., Transocean Deepwater Inc., Transocean Holdings LLC, and Triton Asset Leasing GmbH (Transocean), Phase One Trial: Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on Gross Negligence and Willful Misconduct, Phase Two Trial: Findings of Fact on Source Control and the Amount of Oil Spilled, Ruling on Maximum Dollars-Per-Barrel Penalty Amount, as Adjusted by the Penalty Inflation Act, $14.9 billion civil settlement with BP Exploration & Production. He had a way to make anyone feel welcome no matter their background. A young heron sits dying amid oil splatterings underneath mangrove on an island impacted by oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Barataria Bay, just inside the the coast of Lousiana, Sunday, May 23, 2010. The victims of the Deepwater Horizon explosion - World Socialist Web Site In our investigation into the Deepwater Horizon true story, we learned that during the hearings, Senator Jeff Sessions expressed his disappointment at the lack of information offered by industry witnesses, stating that the senators and congressmen had learned more from watching Williams' 60 Minutes interview. New waves of oil have not come ashore and cleanup work continues, leaving Alabama's beaches in much better condition than just a few days earlier.Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, Thomas and Alicia Barrios have dinner in their nearly empty restaurant on June 25, 2010, which lost most of its daily business since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,with their children Alyssa, 10, left, and, Thomas, Jr., 18, in Golden Meadow, La.Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, A long barrier to guard against oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill sits on Elmers Island, La., Friday, June 25, 2010. Oil cleanup crews make their morning patrol along the beach in Gulf Shores, Ala., Wednesday, June 16, 2010. They first used an ROV (remote operated vehicle) to figure out where the leak was coming from. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon has affected wildlife throughout the Gulf of Mexico. "It was like a freight train coming through and I just hit the gas on the boat and tried to get away from it as quick as we could," said university student Albert Andry. Full Coverage: Disaster in the GulfMore Photos. A month after the explosion, approximately 750 vessels and 17,000 people assisted in the response. The beefy, red-bearded Kleppinger was a NASCAR fan and loved cooking barbecue. Jason Anderson, 35, of Midfield, Texas. A nut for Jeeps, according to The New York Times, Revette left behind his wife of 26 years, Sherri, and two adult daughters. Arleen Weise clings to memories of her fun-loving son. Dewey Revette, 48, of State Line, Mississippi. As the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill released 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days, fouling 1,300 miles of shoreline along five states. Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion Survivors Local authorities closed the beaches on the island after oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion began to wash ashore. Small amounts of oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster have started coming ashore on the Florida and Alabama coast. After loading a life raft and getting it into the water, it also left without them. May 26, 2010 / 3:23 PM