OIL RIGGERS On Ship Describe Fateful Night

[Segami]

Very frightening account indeed.


......."Wyman Wheeler, a 39-year-old oilman, was busy packing. He was 20 days into a 21-day hitch, scheduled to fly back to Houma, La., by helicopter at 6 a.m. and then drive four hours to his home in Mississippi. Like most of the men, he worked on the rig for 21 days at a time, enduring 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, so he could spend the next 21 days at home. He called his wife, Rebecca, and spoke to their two young children. "One more night," he said. Then he promised them a vacation to Texas that week.


Wheeler hung up the phone, changed into his coveralls and walked out of his room. He had been working offshore for 16 years, and the last night of a hitch still left him too excited to sleep. He walked down the hall toward the tool room, then stopped. The hall reeked of gasoline. The lights flickered. Popping sounds echoed from overhead. All of a sudden, the door to the tool room seemed to be breathing, as though someone were pushing on it from the other side.


What happened next would be the last thing Wheeler remembered: The door blew off its hinges and barreled toward him, even before he heard an explosion.



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<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/06/AR2010050606409.html?nav=rss_email/components>

[malaise]

1. Frightening

:cry:

[chillspike]

2. Clearly the oil spill concerns everyone...

but we need to hear more about the 11 workers who lost their lives for big oil. I wonder if their families regard oil drilling as a livelihood now.

[Javaman]

3. Those poor workers heard it coming and couldn't do a thing.

Like standing on top of a volcano when it erupts.

Hopefully they didn't suffer long.

Those 11 men have been lost in the shuffle of blame, stupidity, false reporting and everything else that has gone on since this catastrophe occurred.

Someday, somewhere, there will be a plaque of some kind dedicated to those workers in a spot few will attend and little media will cover. The broken hearts and shattered lives are part of the wreckage laying at the bottom of the gulf. Never to be seen again.