Transocean_ Offshore_Rig_Explosion
The Associated Press is reporting that a boat carrying about 100 survivors of the massive explosion that rocked a Transocean-owned oil rig in the Gulf Mexico, has reached shores safely.
The boat carrying the survivors has docked in Port Fourchon in Louisiana. Several families had traveled to Port Fourchon to meet their loved ones, and welcome them. However, before the traumatized workers met with their families, they were checked out by a port doctor. After meeting with the doctor, the workers were then taken to a hotel in suburban New Orleans, where their families were waiting for them.
These workers were the fortunate ones. When the explosion rocked Deepwater Horizon, a semisubmersible rig located in the Gulf Mexico about 50 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, these workers were the ones who managed to make it to lifeboats as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, families of the 11 missing offshore workers continue to wait anxiously for news of their loved ones. The Coast Guard is expected to resume aerial search efforts as soon as day breaks. The CG had suspended aerial efforts at night, but its boats continued to patrol the waters in the area looking for the missing workers. It is now confirmed that 17 persons were injured in the deadly Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.
New reports give a clear picture about the kind of workers on board. Out of the approximately 126 workers on the Deepwater Horizon, 79 were employees of Transocean, and six were employed by BP, which had a lease on the rig. 41 other employees were contract workers. More information is also beginning to emerge about the kind of injuries these workers have suffered. According to the Coast Guard, the 17 workers airlifted from the rig have suffered burn injuries, fractures, broken legs, and smoke inhalation injuries.
To the families of the workers who have now arrived at Port Fourchon, hug your loved ones and thank God for their safe return. To the families of the 11 offshore workers who continue to remain missing, keep faith, and my prayers are with you.
Maritime lawyer Brian Beckom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer, whose primary focus is the representation of injured drillers, roustabouts, roughnecks, and other offshore and oil rig workers in offshore accidents in Texas, Louisiana, along the Gulf Coast, across the country and in international waters.
