00:00:02
STEVE: Just opened up my book,
started reading the first
sentence in the paragraph when
00:00:07
I heard what sounded like
a freight train coming
through my bedroom.
00:00:13
I jumped out of the
bed and then there
was a thumping sound
00:00:16
that consecutively
got much faster.
00:00:19
And with each thump I felt
the rig actually shake.
00:00:30
Then there was
an initial boom.
00:00:33
The lights went out.
00:00:35
MIKE: And there
was a huge explosion.
00:00:42
REPORTER (over TV): The
explosion rocked the rig
about 10:00 Central Time,
00:00:45
spraying flames
in every direction.
00:00:50
STEVE: Well, I saw fire from
derrick leg to derrick leg.
00:00:54
PROFESSOR: When you
have oil and gas under
pressure, underground,
00:00:56
it erupts upwards.
00:01:00
RIG WORKER: It
was extremely loud.
00:01:01
It actually started
sounding like a living thing.
00:01:08
REPORTER (over TV):
It's the sound of escaping
gas feeding the fireball
00:01:11
incinerating the
Deepwater Horizon.
00:01:20
RIG WORKER: It's like
you're almost waiting to die.
00:01:21
There's people screaming.
00:01:24
You feel the heat
from the fire.
00:01:26
Scared to death,
I figured this is my
time, I'm gonna die.
00:01:32
REPORTER (over TV): 126
people were on board at
the time of the explosion.
00:01:36
REPORTER (over TV):
Some jumped more than
75 feet into the ocean.
00:01:42
CURRY: The Coast Guard is
pressing its search today
for 11 workers still missing.
00:01:46
JAMES: I started to have a bad
feeling when the sun came up.
00:01:49
It got very
precarious at that time.
00:01:53
Time was running out.
00:01:56
(theme music plays).
00:02:10
♪ ♪
00:02:27
FRANK: Deepwater Horizon,
a state of the art,
semi-submersible,
00:02:33
dynamically positioned
by satellite drilling rig.
00:02:40
And Transocean rents
Deepwater Horizon to
the big oil companies
00:02:44
at about a half-million
dollars a day.
00:02:47
Now, what the oil companies
use Deepwater Horizon for
is to drill the wells.
00:02:52
They come out, they drill in
really challenging environments,
they find the oil,
00:02:58
sometimes they set up
the production well, then
they go to the next job.
00:03:04
CHRIS: It is different
than any other job.
00:03:10
A lot of people when they
first start out they try to
compare it to construction,
00:03:14
and it's a completely
different thing.
00:03:17
Being away from your family.
00:03:18
You know, something happens
you can't just leave, it,
it's all weather permitting.
00:03:23
RIG WORKER: These are
our charts, and this is our
tracking of hurricane Ivan.
00:03:29
Put a mark on that piece
of paper where we's at.
00:03:36
CHRIS: Everybody out
there gets kind of close,
00:03:38
I mean as far as
friendships and
stuff like that.
00:03:40
RIG WORKER: Are you
gonna do some work now?
00:03:43
CHRIS: Really I'm with
them more than I am my
own family most of the time.
00:03:47
RIG WORKER: All
right, there's Yancy.
00:03:50
CHRIS: It's a little different
than being home because you
know it is dangerous.
00:03:53
You never know
when the cables
are gonna break or,
00:03:56
or the equipment's
gonna fail.
00:03:59
RIG WORKER: This is our subsea
control panel, this is used to
shut down any blowouts that come
00:04:05
from the subsea floor.
00:04:08
CHRIS: The guys you work
with a lot of the time they do
have your life in their hands.
00:04:13
-Busted!
00:04:15
-We're workin'!
00:04:16
-Yeah.
00:04:28
ALWIN: That night was
an amazingly calm night.
00:04:33
Very little wind, I
mean it was just ideal.
00:04:37
I just noted, uh, mentally
that evening at sunset
how, how pretty it was.
00:04:57
I was tending to paperwork.
00:04:59
My mate, he noticed quite a
bit of mud falling through
the center of the rig.
00:05:04
I stood up to see what,
see what he was talking
about and I turned around
00:05:07
and that's when
I noticed the, uh,
mud raining down.
00:05:11
So, I looked up
out the side window,
port side of the vessel,
00:05:16
and I seen the mud come out.
00:05:17
When the mud comes out the top
of the derrick, it's not good.
00:05:22
RANDY: My room phone
rang and the person at
the other end of the,
00:05:28
uh, line there opened up by
saying, "We have a situation."
00:05:34
He said, "We have mud
going to the crown."
00:05:38
I was just horrified.
I said, "Well, do
y'all have it shut in?"
00:05:43
He said, "Jason is
shutting it in now."
00:05:50
And he said, "Randy,
we need your help," and
I'll never forget that.
00:05:54
And I said, "I'll
be right there."
00:06:08
ALWIN: I contacted the
Horizon bridge on the VHF
radio and advised them
00:06:13
of the mud coming
down and asked them
what the situation was.
00:06:17
With tension in his voice,
he immediately advised me
00:06:20
they was having
trouble with the well.
00:06:24
ANDREA: I came
up to the bridge.
00:06:27
At that time I felt a jolt.
00:06:38
Yancy came over and
turned the CCTV over
to the starboard side,
00:06:44
and that's when I
witnessed mud coming
from the starboard side.
00:06:53
CHRIS: When I woke up, I
heard, like, a loud buzzing,
Uh, I wasn't sure what it was
00:06:58
and I just thought somebody
was cleaning or something
like that outside my room,
00:07:00
so I just fell back asleep.
00:07:07
MIKE: I heard a hissing
noise, and, and a thump.
00:07:12
Within seconds of that
I start hearing beeping.
00:07:16
And I'm hearing the
beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep, beep, beep, beep,
00:07:18
it's, it's continuous.
00:07:20
And I'm thinking to myself,
"Okay, what, what's going on?"
00:07:23
And I'm trying to put
all this together in my head
as to the thump, the hissing,
00:07:26
and now the beeps.
00:07:29
I hear the engines start
to rev, normal operating
RPMs to way above what
00:07:34
I'd ever heard
it run before.
00:07:37
And it's continuously,
steadily rising.
00:07:40
And I knew then that we
were having a problem.
00:07:46
As I start to push back from
my desk the computer monitor
exploded in front of me.
00:07:52
All the lights
in my shop popped.
00:07:53
The light bulbs themselves
physically popped.
00:07:56
Now I know we're in trouble.
00:07:58
I reached down to grab my door,
and at the, simultaneously of
grabbing the handle,
00:08:05
the engine goes to
a level that is higher
than I can even describe it.
00:08:11
It's spinning so fast that...
00:08:17
it just, it stopped spinning,
00:08:19
(explosion)
00:08:21
and there was a huge explosion.
00:08:26
That explosion blew the fire
door that was between me and
those spaces off the hinges.
00:08:33
RANDY: It blew me
probably 20 feet against a
bulkhead, against a wall.
00:08:38
And I remember then
that the lights went out.
00:08:42
Power went out, I could
hear everything deathly calm.
00:08:49
CHRIS: Then I started
trying to find my
clothes in the dark.
00:08:52
I grabbed my
boots, put them on.
00:08:56
MIKE: I couldn't see
anything, I couldn't
breathe, there was no oxygen.
00:09:00
I crawled across
the floor, found the
opening, made my way out.
00:09:06
Had a small pen flashlight
in my pocket that I put in
my mouth to try to, to see,
00:09:10
I still couldn't see,
I, I didn't know why
I couldn't see,
00:09:12
I just couldn't see anything.
00:09:15
I made it to the
next door by feel.
00:09:18
And as I reached the
next door I reached up and
grabbed the handle for it,
00:09:21
it then exploded.
00:09:34
RANDY: My next
recollection was...
00:09:40
that I had a lot of
debris on top of me.
00:09:43
I tried two different
times to get up.
00:09:48
But whatever it was, it
was a substantial weight.
00:09:51
And I told myself, "Either
you get up, or you're
gonna lay here and die."
00:11:06
MIKE: Crawling through the
ECR, my arm wouldn't work,
my left leg wouldn't work,
00:11:12
I couldn't breathe,
I couldn't see.
00:11:15
I knew I had to get
outside to some fresh air.
00:11:21
I crawl across the bodies
of, of at least two men.
00:11:24
I don't know their condition.
00:11:26
I'm trying to get them
to respond, they're not
responding, I assume they're
00:11:28
dead and keep moving
because I know that I'm in
no condition to help them.
00:11:33
I can barely help
myself at this point.
00:11:44
So, I was tripping
and falling,
00:11:46
trying to make my way to
the outside watertight door.
00:11:52
I get about halfway across it
and I can actually start to
see light, a dim light so I,
00:11:56
I'm, assume I'm headed
in the right direction and I
keep going towards the light.
00:12:02
Eventually I make
my way outside.
00:12:04
I've got my bearings,
got my eyes cleaned out.
00:12:10
There was no walkway,
there were no handrails, and
there was no stairwell left.
00:12:16
The wall, the handrail,
the walkway, all those
things were missing.
00:12:20
They were completely blown
off the back of the rig.
00:12:24
One more step and I
would've went in the water.
00:12:31
RANDY: So I open my
cabin door, right leg
was hung on something,
00:12:34
I don't know what still,
but I pulled it as hard as
I could and it came free.
00:12:42
I attempted to stand up.
00:12:43
That was the wrong thing
to do because I immediately
stuck my head into smoke.
00:12:48
And with the, uh, training
that we've all had on the
rig I knew to stay low.
00:12:53
I got on my hands and knees,
so I was totally disoriented.
00:12:57
I'd lost orientation on
which way the doorway was.
00:13:03
And I remember just
sitting there just trying
to think which way is it.
00:13:08
And then I felt something
that felt like air, and
I said to myself,
00:13:14
that's the direction I
need to go, that leads out.
00:13:18
So, I had to crawl very
slowly because that end of the
living quarters was pretty well
00:13:24
demolished, debris everywhere,
but I made it to the doorway,
00:13:31
and what I thought was
air was actually methane.
00:13:38
And I could actually feel
like droplets, it was moist
on the side of my face.
00:13:44
I continued to crawl
down the hallway slowly
00:13:48
and I put my hand on a body
and it was Wyman Wheeler.
00:14:03
MIKE: There's two lifeboats
there on that lifeboat deck.
00:14:06
And from what I saw, what
I heard, and what I felt, I
seriously considered launching
00:14:13
a lifeboat by myself because
I knew that something really,
really bad had happened
00:14:18
and that it wasn't gonna
get any better any time soon.
00:14:21
I had an inclination
that this was way worse
than anyone could expect.
00:14:28
And I thought about it for
a second and I remembered
that I had, you know,
00:14:31
I have responsibilities.
00:14:34
Yeah, I have a emergency
station to go to.
00:14:38
The problem was my emergency
station no longer existed.
00:14:45
So, I made a decision
to put my lifejacket on right
there, and try to make my way
00:14:51
to the bridge,
which would be my
secondary muster station.
00:14:57
I determined if I
couldn't make it there,
I was gonna come back
00:14:59
and launch the
lifeboat by myself.
00:15:08
CHRIS: I'm on the fire
team, so I was trying to
get to my, my fire station.
00:15:12
My main fire station is the
one in the back of the rig.
00:15:16
And I could see
it and I could see
that nobody was there,
00:15:18
and there was a bunch
of smoke around it.
00:15:20
I turned around to go back
to the front of the rig.
00:15:26
And that's when I saw
the flames on the derrick.
00:15:29
And soon as I saw that
I knew there was no way
we were gonna put it out.
00:15:32
We were just gonna get
off of there, I was sure.
00:15:35
That's when my
panic set in.
00:15:38
I mean, that scared me
absolutely to death, right then.
00:15:42
I've never had a
feeling like that.
00:15:46
I mean, the lifeboats were
probably gone, and I didn't
know, I hadn't seen anybody
00:15:51
until this point, I didn't
know if I was the only person
still on the rig or what.
00:15:57
Uh, that's all I kept thinking
was, well, we're all dead.
00:16:16
DUSTIN: I was
relieved for the night.
00:16:18
On the way home, I
received a phone call.
00:16:20
They said, "We just
had an oil rig explosion,
you need to come back here
00:16:24
as soon as possible,
five minutes ago."
00:16:27
So I said, "Okay. I'm
turning around right now."
00:16:31
I said, "Just
throw my, all my
gear in the helicopter
00:16:35
and I'll change en route."
00:16:40
Just ran right to the
helicopter, hopped in,
and off we went.
00:16:46
JOHN: As soon as we took
off I, I put my night vision
goggles down and I could see
00:16:50
this immense glow
on the horizon.
00:16:58
It looked like I was
flying to New York City.
00:17:01
The glow was that
immense and normally you,
you might see a faint horizon
00:17:05
or you see no horizon at all.
00:17:07
And, uh, I, I told my crew,
I said, "You guys, you see
that light on the horizon?
00:17:11
That's where we're going to."
00:17:14
It sunk in right there
that this is, this is real,
this is the real thing.
00:17:19
We don't know what
we're gonna see when we get
there but we know it's big.
00:17:37
RANDY: The next thing
I recollect is I saw,
like, a beam of light,
00:17:42
like a flashlight bouncing, and
I saw that to be Stan Carden.
00:17:51
And about that time,
Jimmy Harrel came out
of his room.
00:17:58
He told me he was in
the shower when the
explosion happened.
00:18:03
He had managed to find a pair
of coveralls and put those on.
00:18:09
And I said, "Jimmy, I've
got Wyman down right here."
00:18:13
So, we asked him to go to
the bow and get a stretcher.
00:18:19
We continued to remove
this debris off of Wyman.
00:18:23
I helped him up and
I was gonna try to
help walk him out,
00:18:28
thinking that that
might be quicker.
00:18:34
He made a couple of
steps with his arm around my
shoulder and he was in pain,
00:18:39
and then he said, "Set
me down, set me down."
00:18:43
So we set him back
down and he said,
00:18:48
"Y'all go on and save yourself."
You know, and I said, "No,
we're not gonna leave you,
00:18:54
we're not gonna
leave you in here."
00:19:00
MIKE: Once I got
on the bridge, I
reported immediately
00:19:03
to the captain that we
have no propulsion, we
have no power, and I said,
00:19:08
"You need to understand,
engine number three,
for sure, has blown up.
00:19:13
We need to abandon ship now."
00:19:17
STEVE: I turned around, I
didn't recognize who it was
00:19:19
at the time because he
was covered in blood.
00:19:22
It was Mike Williams,
Chief ET.
00:19:25
And I asked him,
"What do you mean gone?"
00:19:27
He said, "They've blown up.
00:19:28
They're all gone,
they've blown up."
00:19:30
Upon looking at the screen
there was still nothing.
00:19:33
No engines starting, no
thrusters running, nothing.
00:19:35
We were still a dead ship.
00:19:39
Chris Pleasant, the
subsea supervisor was
standing at the BOP panel.
00:19:44
I hollered out
to Chris Pleasant,
"Have you EDS'd?"
00:19:46
He said he needed
permission to EDS.
00:19:49
Somebody on the bridge
hollered out he cannot EDS
without the OIM's approval.
00:19:54
I hollered out, "Can we EDS?"
00:19:56
He said, "Yes, EDS, EDS." When
I turned back to Chris, he was
in the panel pushing a button.
00:20:08
PLEASANT: You know, I hit the
EDS and I seen it go to close
and I was looking through that
00:20:13
panel trying to see
what was going on.
00:20:16
After I saw that I had no
hydraulics, I had no pressure
in the system that allowed
00:20:22
those functions to work, I
knew it was time to leave.
00:20:32
STEVE: I hollered to Chris,
"I need confirmation that
we have EDS'd."
00:20:35
He said yes and he pointed
at a light in the panel.
00:20:40
PLEASANT: Steve Bertone,
then he turns away and he said,
00:20:43
"I'm going to the emergency
generator room," like that.
00:20:47
And I said, "You
need me to go with you."
And he didn't say nothing,
00:20:51
but I looked out that door
and I said, "I ain't going."
00:20:58
STEVE: When I left the
bridge, I went to close
the watertight door
00:21:01
and Mike Williams
pushed the door back
and he, he said,
00:21:04
"You're not going alone, chief."
I said, "Well, come on." Paul
Meinhardt, the motorman,
00:21:09
also fell in line
and we ran towards the,
uh, standby generator.
00:21:15
As I was running I looked up
at the derrick, and I could
see nothing but flames,
00:21:19
because I could see no
equipment, whatsoever.
00:21:23
It was solid flames.
00:21:27
When we walked into the, uh,
standby generator room, my
thinking at that point was,
00:21:33
what remaining fuel would be
in the riser would burn away,
00:21:36
and we were gonna need
power as well as fire pumps.
00:21:40
I hit the start button.
00:21:42
There was absolutely no
turning over of the engine.
00:21:45
At that point I said,
"That's it, let's go
back to the bridge.
00:21:48
Uh, it's not gonna crank."
00:21:54
MIKE: On our way back to
the bridge is when I noticed,
00:21:56
I believe it was lifeboat
number one, had descended,
and was motoring away.
00:22:01
They had descended and
disconnected from the rig.
00:22:28
CHRIS: We went down to
the life capsule deck.
00:22:31
Everybody was panicking.
00:22:33
Some people were
trying to stay calm and
do what needed to be done,
00:22:37
like the Chief Mate, Captain.
00:22:38
So, they were trying to get
the stuff handled the
way they were trained
00:22:40
and knew how to handle it.
00:22:44
Some people
were jumping off,
00:22:50
some people were holding
people back from jumping
off, they wouldn't let 'em.
00:22:54
And then other people
were screaming we've
got to get out of here,
00:22:56
we've got to get out of here.
00:22:58
So I mean, there was a
certain level of panic
that everybody was in
00:23:04
that made things a
little more difficult
in getting off the rig.
00:23:08
I got in the number two
lifeboat, everybody was in
there hollering and screaming,
00:23:13
you know, "We gotta
go. The derrick is
fixin' to fall on us."
00:23:16
They finally got
everybody in there
and shut the door.
00:23:22
Then they released
the lifeboat to,
down to the water.
00:23:29
MIKE: As we were making
our way down the ladder
way to get to the lifeboats,
00:23:33
lifeboat number two descended.
00:23:37
So now there
are, the two forward
lifeboats are both gone,
00:23:40
they're both unavailable.
00:23:42
Once they go down
there's no coming back up
because we had no power.
00:23:49
There was several minor
explosions occurring,
things are falling,
00:23:53
you can hear stuff popping.
00:24:10
RANDY: It seemed like
an eternity, they came
back with a stretcher.
00:24:17
We were able to get
Wyman on that stretcher.
00:24:21
When we got outside
of the living quarters
00:24:25
the first thing
I observed was
00:24:28
both of the main lifeboats
had already been deployed
and had left.
00:24:33
I also looked to my left
and I saw Captain Curt
and a few of his crew
00:24:40
starting to deploy a life raft.
00:24:43
And we continued
down the walkway
00:24:46
until we got to that life
raft and we were able to
00:24:51
catch the head part of the
stretcher and assist getting
Wyman into the life raft,
00:24:59
and I think we actually
fell, trying to, you know,
get him into the life raft.
00:25:04
But the main thing
is Wyman was there.
00:25:08
You know, he didn't
get left behind.
00:25:16
STEVE: There was a lot
of explosions still going
on and immense heat.
00:25:23
All the flames and heat from
the rig floor were coming down
the forward part of that deck
00:25:29
as well as all the flames and
the heat from under the rig
that were meeting I guess in
00:25:33
like a vortex or something
right there at the life raft.
00:25:36
But I can remember feeling the
intense heat on my knees, and
I also heard screaming
00:25:41
"We're gonna die,
we're gonna die."
00:25:45
And I honestly
thought that we were
gonna cook right there.
00:25:54
MIKE: I wasn't sure that the
life raft was gonna survive.
00:25:56
There was a crowd of
folks there trying to get
into this small opening.
00:26:03
There was so much heat coming
up I thought for sure the life
raft was gonna pop or melt
00:26:08
and the people inside
were gonna cook.
00:26:22
REPORTER (over TV): Moments
after the rig first exploded
you can hear the roar.
00:26:27
It's the sound of escaping
gas, feeding the fireball,
00:26:30
incinerating the
Deepwater Horizon.
00:26:41
ALWIN: We was
approximately
100 meters out.
00:26:53
I gave the command to
launch shortly after we've seen
00:26:57
the first three guys
jump off the rig.
00:27:20
AL: I knew this was big,
I've never seen flames that
gigantic before, that huge.
00:27:27
This was like seeing
hell on earth.
00:27:39
STEVE: The next thing I knew
the life raft was descending.
00:27:42
When we touched the water
I heard somebody holler
out, where are the paddles?
00:27:47
I jumped out of the life
raft, Chad Murray jumped
out, was right behind me,
00:27:54
and grabbed hold of the
rope on the side of that
life raft and started swimming,
00:27:58
trying to pull
the life raft away.
00:28:01
I was swimming on my side,
looking up at the rig.
00:28:04
I would say 25, 30 feet above
me there was a tremendous
amount of smoke billowing out
00:28:11
from under the rig.
00:28:23
YANCY: I asked the
captain what about us.
00:28:25
And he said I don't know about
you, but I'm going to jump.
00:28:30
So he actually jumped first.
00:28:34
I waited for a minute
because when I looked over
00:28:37
the life raft was basically
right underneath me.
00:28:42
So I waited for a minute
00:28:45
so it could actually
move out the way
00:28:51
and, uh, I jumped.
00:29:06
When I resurfaced
I had the life raft
00:29:11
was like 10 or 15
feet away from me.
00:29:15
So I swam to the
life raft, and I seen
00:29:20
the captain and a few
other guys that were on
the outside of the life raft.
00:29:29
STEVE: As we're swimming
trying to pull this life raft
away from the rig I got to a
00:29:33
point where I could
see the helideck.
00:29:37
I witnessed an individual
running at full speed across
the helideck, when he jumped
00:29:42
off the end of the helideck
he was still running.
00:29:45
Just before he splashed
into the water he was
actually looking over at us.
00:29:57
MIKE: In our training,
they teach you to reach your
hand around your life jacket,
00:30:01
take one step off,
look straight ahead,
cross your legs, and fall.
00:30:05
The problem with that is
there's now a life raft
down there at the bottom.
00:30:10
Maybe 90 feet, 100 feet.
00:30:14
It's a long ways.
00:30:17
So I took off
running and I jumped.
00:30:24
I cleared the life raft
by a pretty good ways.
00:30:30
Once I hit the water,
when I came back up I
couldn't see anything again,
00:30:41
because now I've got
a new set of problems.
00:30:43
Oil, hydraulic fluid,
gasoline, diesel, whatever
it is that's floating on the
00:30:47
water is now burning
my entire body.
00:30:52
I'm now covered
in this sludge.
00:30:54
I don't know what it is,
it's burning I can't
hardly breathe,
00:30:58
but I could feel
the heat from the fire
underneath the vessel.
00:31:02
At that point I started back
stroking with the one arm
and one leg that would work.
00:31:07
Until I remember
feeling no pain, I
remember feeling no heat,
00:31:12
and thinking that
that was it, I had died.
00:31:22
Sometime later, something
apparently woke me back up,
00:31:27
a pop, or explosion,
something.
00:31:30
And I remember feeling
the heat again, starting
to feel the pain come back,
00:31:33
thinking I've gotta swim,
I've gotta swim and I
started swimming again.
00:31:41
Then I heard something
in the distance, I heard
"Over here, over here."
00:31:45
I was thinking to myself what
in the world can that be?
00:31:49
Whatever it is I'm gonna go to
it and just started swimming
00:31:51
as hard as I could
to get to it.
00:31:56
And then I felt
something start lifting
me out of the water.
00:32:00
A small orange rescue craft
had grabbed me, and flipped
me over into the boat.
00:32:10
At that point the guy said
there's a raft in the water.
00:32:15
We proceeded to go
towards the rig.
00:32:19
Now we're close enough that I
can feel the heat, I'm starting
to feel the heat again,
00:32:24
and I see the life
raft and it's literally
still under the rig.
00:32:30
And I can see
people outside of it.
00:32:32
We get up to 'em, throw 'em
a line, they get tied on.
00:32:37
YANCY: Then the fast
rescue boat pulled us
to the starboard side
00:32:39
of the Bankston.
00:32:42
The Bankston crew was
throwing down Jacobs
ladders to the lifeboats,
00:32:47
to where people inside
can get up on deck.
00:33:00
I seen Carl, the rig operator,
he was taking muster.
00:33:07
I asked him how many
people we were missing.
00:33:10
Come to find out it was 11.
00:33:33
JOHN: We're flying as close
as a half mile, to a quarter
of a mile, circling the rig,
00:33:38
looking for
survivors in the water.
00:33:40
We smelled the smoke, we
smelled the oil, the fumes.
00:33:44
We felt the heat
through the cockpit, we
felt it in the helicopters,
00:33:48
you know, through
the windshields.
00:33:51
It really hits home and
strikes you that hey, we're
flying at 300 feet and the
00:33:55
flames are higher than we
are, probably up to 500 feet.
00:34:02
AL: I was looking into
this burning hulk of metal
and it was like looking
00:34:07
into the face of the devil.
00:34:11
It was, it was
like a living thing.
00:34:21
YANCY: They already had
boats that were putting
water on the rig.
00:34:27
I don't know where
they came from.
00:34:28
They came out the wood work.
They were there in no time.
00:34:36
The Coast Guard helicopters
were flying around.
00:34:41
AL: We were hovering
about half a mile to the
East of the burning rig.
00:34:45
Initially we got the word
that we were to pick up a
critically wounded victim
00:34:50
so then we lowered our rescue
swimmer to the Damon Bankston.
00:34:55
COAST GUARD:
Moving out swimmer,
moving out swimmer.
00:34:59
JOHN: The rescue swimmer,
he's basically our paramedic,
he's our assigned EMT,
00:35:04
so he's the guy who
knows the first aid.
00:35:07
COAST GUARD: Roger, hold
position I'mma bring him down.
Swimmer's just below the rail.
00:35:12
Halfway down, 40 right, 40.
00:35:20
Okay swimmers on deck.
00:35:21
STEVE: When the
Coast Guard arrived,
the rescue swimmer,
00:35:25
he came in and he asked
who's the critical.
00:35:29
Buddy Trahan was the worst.
00:35:32
And at that point they
brought in a gurney.
00:35:33
I stepped to the backside
of the bed to assist in
getting Buddy on the gurney.
00:35:38
As I rolled him he was
screaming and hollering that
his leg was hurt real bad,
00:35:42
he had a severe
laceration on his leg.
00:35:46
He also had a twisted
and mangled lower-calf,
his fingernails were gone,
00:35:53
he had a hole in
the side of his neck.
00:35:55
And I looked back and
Buddy's back was burnt
from belt to head.
00:36:04
Once we got him on the
gurney they took him out.
00:36:11
DUSTIN: We went to carry him
out after we strapped him in
and the supply boat was full
00:36:16
of big containers, so you
really had no clear path
to the back of the boat.
00:36:22
So we were like, "How are
we gonna get this guy out?"
00:36:26
We actually had to lift him
up over these containers
00:36:31
and got him hoisted
up to the helicopter.
00:36:39
AL: It's hard when you're
departing a scene like that,
00:36:43
to know that there's
still 11 people missing.
00:36:47
Our mission was to
return to base with a
critically injured victim,
00:36:51
but it still felt bad
to leave the scene.
00:36:55
But that was the
task we were given.
00:36:59
JESSICA: It began with
a powerful explosion, a
column of flames shooting into
00:37:03
the night sky over
the Gulf of Mexico.
00:37:06
The oil rig still burning
and could topple into
the water at any moment.
00:37:12
MARY: The source of that
fire is predominantly coming
from the well head itself.
00:37:16
It's crude oil that is
leeching from this wellhead.
00:37:19
And as long as that crude
is leeching we're gonna
continue to see that fire.
00:37:28
YANCY: After the helicopter
left, and it was like,
with the wounded,
00:37:32
it was like everything just
kind of like fell in place.
00:37:35
Finally able to
start calming down.
00:37:39
CHRIS: And we sat there
pretty much watched the rig
burn for six or seven hours.
00:37:48
That's something
I'll never forget.
00:37:51
The images just burned in
my head, I'll never forget.
00:37:55
Knowing that, after we took the
muster and stuff we figured out,
00:37:58
you know, we were
missing 11 guys.
00:38:00
And, most of us, we assumed
they were, they were on the
rig, we didn't know,
00:38:06
and that was pretty
tough not knowing.
00:38:10
DUSTIN: I went home that
morning and turned on the
news and then you find out
00:38:13
well there's still
11 people missing,
it's like "Oh."
00:38:17
It's like, "Man, I
hope they made, I just
hope they made it off."
00:38:32
CURRY: In the news, the Coast
Guard is pressing its search
today for 11 workers still
00:38:35
missing on a burning oil
drilling platform off
the coast of Louisiana.
00:38:39
Fireboats are struggling
to put out flames triggered
00:38:41
by the explosion
on Tuesday night.
00:38:45
CHRIS: When we left
from the rig, we rode
for probably a good
00:38:49
four hours to
another platform.
00:38:52
The guys on that platform,
they sent down a bag with some
cigarettes, and some snuff,
00:38:56
and stuff, and some clothes.
00:39:00
JEFFREY: The survivors who
were not injured are now
making their way to shore.
00:39:03
They will be arriving here
in port later this evening.
00:39:05
The search for the
missing will continue
through the night.
00:39:09
RON: A pair of Coast Guard
cutters stayed out in the
gulf all night looking
00:39:12
for these missing workers.
00:39:13
They will be joined
a little bit later by
one of these choppers,
00:39:15
which is set to leave
at first light here.
00:39:17
And as you can imagine,
the longer this search
and rescue mission
00:39:20
goes without
resolution, the more
fear and concern grow.
00:39:30
CHRIS: When we got off the
boat they brought around three
or four pre-paid cellphones.
00:39:36
They were passing those around,
everybody was passing them,
talking to their families
00:39:40
for about 30 seconds
just letting them know
they were off the boat.
00:39:43
That was the first time
I got to talk to my wife.
00:39:50
From there we rode
to New Orleans to
the Crowne Plaza.
00:39:56
We went in the back of
it, because they told us there
were so many lawyers and media
00:40:00
out front, they were making
us go in the back, and all
our families were waiting,
00:40:06
and that was the first
time I got to see my wife.
00:40:10
And she ran up smiling, and
then by the time she got her
arms around my neck she just
00:40:15
burst out in tears,
both of us did.
00:40:27
JAMES: We were on
site about midnight,
00:40:29
so we were only on site in a
relatively short period of time.
00:40:34
I started to have a bad
feeling when the sun came
up and we could get a more
00:40:39
accurate assessment of
the extent of the damage
onboard the oil rig.
00:40:45
You could see the derrick
leaning over on the crane
and you could actually see
00:40:50
what used to be
incredibly stout steel
sagging like a clothesline.
00:40:56
It got very precarious
at that time and we were
all very, very concerned
00:41:01
that time was running out.
00:41:06
But at around 10:00, we
could see the starboard corner
00:41:11
starting to slowly
drop into the sea.
00:41:16
The loud groans
coming out of this
vessel, as she broke up,
00:41:21
was becoming much
more pronounced.
00:41:23
We started to back off,
00:41:27
a thick sheen of
brown emulsified oil
still on fire behind.
00:41:35
I think unfortunately
for us we were fighting a
losing battle from the start.
00:41:43
But you still feel
a tremendous loss,
00:41:45
you still feel a
tremendous sense
of failure.
00:41:53
My thinking
immediately shifted
00:41:57
to that of the
people onboard.
00:42:02
You're there to help
the loved ones of those
people that may be missing
00:42:07
come to some
sense of closure.
00:42:11
It was quite a silence on
the bridge, and I know we were
all thinking the same thing.
00:42:18
You feel the loss, you feel
the failure, you feel it deep.
00:42:25
And it settles in more and
more as time goes by and
as the adrenaline subsides.
00:42:33
You know, I'm still going
over things in my mind.
00:42:39
REPORTER (over TV): There
were 126 crewmembers on
board the rig.
00:42:42
Eleven of the workers
never had a chance, they
were killed in the explosion,
00:42:47
their bodies never recovered.
00:42:51
KEITH: These guys on the
Deepwater are the fighter
pilots of our profession.
00:42:58
They are the rock stars.
00:43:00
Only the very best of the
best work on the Deepwater.
00:43:06
And they don't
accept anything less.
00:43:42
RANDY: The Horizon
was an exemplary rig
with excellent personnel.
00:43:47
They paid the ultimate price,
they gave their life, to try
to minimize the damage that
00:43:54
was done to people,
property, environment.
00:43:57
And I hope at least that
message is clear, that they
paid the ultimate price.
00:44:09
Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.
