Deepwater Horizon: Five years later

Today marks the fifth anniversary since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, offshore Louisiana, USA, in which eleven men died. Their bodies were never found.

The incident happened on April 20, 2010, when the Transocean-owned semi-submersible drilling rig exploded, causing the oil from the BP-operated Macondo well to flow freely into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for 87 days.

Apart from the eleven workers losing lives, seventeen others were seriously injured. Nearly 100 others escaped from the burning rig.

BP, the operator, is now facing a maximum civil penalty of $13.7 billion under the Clean Water Act, which prohibits the discharge of “harmful” quantities of oil offshore.

To mark the anniversary, BP posted the following on twitter: “Five years ago, eleven lives were lost in the Deepwater Horizon accident. Today and every day, we remember them.”

_{source: offshoreenergytoday.com}