Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, This April 28, 2010 photo released by Greenpeace, shows an aerial view of the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana, where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread. He was scheduled. An oil slick is seen as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, April 21, 2010. He went offshore not long after graduation in 2005 and was a floor hand aboard the Deepwater Horizon at the time of the disaster. Charlie Crist walk along Casino Beach on Pensacola Beach, Fla., Tuesday, June 15, 2010, as they visited the Gulf Coast region affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf. Curtis, 39, was an assistant driller on the Deepwater Horizon. Donald Duck Clark, 49, of Newellton, Louisiana. 4:32 PM EDT, Fri April 10, 2015, Dale Burkeen (Philadelphia, Mississippi) , Karl Kleppinger Jr. (Natchez, Mississippi) , Dewey Revette (State Line, Mississippi) . For his memorial service at Georgetown Baptist Church, the family asked that everyone wear camouflage in his honor. An unidentified girl avoids puddles of oil on the beach in Gulf Shores, Ala., Friday, July 2, 2010. If I would ask him about it, he would express (that) he didnt want to talk about it. Peter Samson, a reporter for the Sun, puts his hand in an oil patch on the surface of Barataria Bay, June 2, 2010. All Rights Reserved. Deepwater Horizon helps. Though fitted loosely over the BOP and allowing some oil to escape, the cap enabled BP to siphon approximately 15,000 barrels of oil per day to a tanker. "Wyatt's memory will live on in our hearts, and through pictures, and the stories I tell our girls almost daily. 16,000 miles of coastline were affected, including the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida (, Deepwater Horizon Footage & Mike Williams Interview, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, video of the Deepwater Horizon engulfed in flames, Watch video of the Deepwater Horizon sinking, David Barstow's Article "Deepwater Horizons Final Hours" that Inspired the Movie. EDITORS NOTE Information for these vignettes comes from interviews with the victims survivors, the New York Times and a memorial issue of Beacon, a magazine published by rig owner Transocean. His other prize possession: A black, four-wheel-drive diesel pickup truck hed dubbed The Big Nasty., It was every boys dream, says his mother, Arleen. From March 30 to April 20, tune in as we go back in time to the day of our country's largest marine oil spill . - Donald Vidrine, one of two BP supervisors on the Deepwater Horizon when the drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, has died in Louisiana at age 69. While much of the oil has since been contained, the full impact of the spill on the environment is still largely unknown. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. By 2010, the Bay City, Texas, man had risen to senior tool pusher, akin to a foreman on a construction site. Tuesday, May 18, 2010. Yes. ". 11 men lost. He was scheduled to leave the rig April 21. Anderson began preparing a will in February 2010 and kept it in a spiral notebook. government, a dead oil-covered dolphin lies on the ground in Venice, La. He was deeply devoted to his wife, Natalie, and his son, Michael. One of those killed on the rig was Karl Kleppinger, 38, of Natchez, Mississippi, who leaves behind a wife, Tracy, and a 17 year-old son, Aaron. He would hide in the bushes at the local golf club and blow an air horn when golfers hit mid-swing. hwy. Known to friends and family as Big D or simple Bubba, Burkeens favorite television show was Man vs. Wild, about people dropped into the wilderness. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The cabinet secretaries joined a bipartisan Senate delegation on a flyover of areas affected by oil from last month's Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. 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. Photos: Animals Hurt By Gulf Oil Spill Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf. Omissions? On April 20, 2010, the oil rig exploded, resulting in the deaths of 11 workers and injuring 17 others. He was a fan of Louisiana State University athletics and had football and basketball season tickets. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, A bird covered in oil flails in the surf at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast Thursday, June 3, 2010. Kemp was married. I dont need objects to remind me of him, she says. A second rig would come along later to do that. My baby boy will never know the love of his grandfather." Full Coverage: Disaster in the GulfMore Photos. On the morning of April 12 after burning for about a day and a half the Deepwater Horizon sank. And I thought, 'Well, I musta burned up, because I don't feel anything. Eleven men were killed when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010. Hahn lifts an oil-covered pelican which was stuck in oil at Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., Saturday, June 5, 2010.Photos: Animals Hurt By Gulf Oil Spill Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf Complete Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, A dead Brown Pelican covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill lies on the beach of a barrier island near East Grand Terre Island, La, Sunday, June 6, 2010. 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. Located appropriately 41 miles south of the Louisiana coast, the fatal fire reportedly started at about 10:00 p.m. CST. On the night of April 20 a surge of natural gas blasted through a concrete core recently installed by contractor Halliburton in order to seal the well for later use. Embedded in his wedding band was a strand of steel cable, the same kind used on the rigs. He left behind a wife, Rhonda, and two children. Veterinarians Erica Miller, right, and Heather Nevill clean a Brown Pelican Saturday, May 15, 2010, at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at Buras, La. 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. 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. His widow has remarried. Kaylee had turned 3 on April 17, three days before the tragedy, "and we were waiting for her daddy to come home to have her birthday party," wrote her mother in a victim impact statement. Video: Journalist Dives Into Oil SpillFull Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, A photo taken by Matthews underwater during his dive. On the inside of his hard hat, he wrote down two dates -- his wedding day and his son's birthday -- to get him through tough times. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf. He could hardly breathe and he also had suffered injuries to his ankle and elbow. On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. His son, Ryver, was 1. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, Dr. Erica Miller, with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, works to give a dose of Pepto-Bismol to a Northern Gannet bird, normally white when full grown, which is covered in oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, April 30, 2010. Yes. Kaylee and I have dreams of Wyatt.". Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. His daughters birthday was three days before the explosion. Eleven men were killed when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010. Construction of two such wells had begun in May. The find had the potential of yielding in excess of 200 million gallons of oil per year. In addition to the spill's heavy environmental toll, its financial one has currently cost BP $53.8 billion in cleanup, fines and settlements. Baptized in a Colorado creek during a youth trip, faith was central to Wyatt Kemps life. Clark, 49, was an assistant driller who spent a decade with the Transocean company. While fact-checking the Deepwater Horizon movie, we learned that on April 20, 2010, the day of the disaster, BP and Transocean officials showed up to give the rig's crew a safety award to celebrate seven years without a lost-time accident. Michelle has remarried. "He was extremely funny with an obnoxiously contagious laugh. 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. He was survived by his wife, Courtney, and two daughters, Kaylee and Maddison. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf More Photos, President Barack Obama, left, picks up a "tar ball" as LaFourche Parish president Charlotte Randolph, center, and U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander for the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, look on during a tour of areas impacted by the Gulf Coast oil spill, Friday, May 28, 2010, in Port Fourchon, La. Five years later, their families -- mothers, fathers, siblings, wives and children -- soldier on without them and hold tight to their memories. The true story confirms that 11 of the 126 crew members lost their lives during the April 20, 2010 blowout. Furthermore, a report produced by BP known as the Bly Report states that before proceeding with well abandonment procedures, Vidrine spoke by phone to a BP engineer in Houston with regard to the problematic negative test. He had a way to make anyone feel welcome no matter their background. He was a floor hand at the time of the disaster. On December 15, 2010, the United States filed a complaint in District Court against BP Exploration & Production and several other defendants alleged to be responsible for the spill. Full Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf, Starfish are seen washed ashore on the Chandeleur Islands, home of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, is seen off the Southeastern coast of Louisiana, Tuesday, April 27, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon incident is expected to come ashore over the July 4th weekend. Many died from ingesting oil or because it interfered with their ability to regulate their body temperatures. Bobby Jindal, left of center, speaks at a press conference in Galliano, La., Monday, May 24, 2010. 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. He had just walked his oldest daughter, Andrea, down the aisle at her wedding. I am not the same person.