Oil Rig Explosion killed 11 workers Ainjured 17

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion refers to the April 20, 2010 explosion and subsequent fire on the Deepwater Horizon semi submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit MODU situated about 40 miles 60 km southeast of the Louisiana coast in the Macondo Prospect oil field.


The explosion killed 11 workers and injured 17 others another 98 people survived without serious physical injury It caused the Deepwater Horizon to burn and sink and started a massive offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; this environmental disaster is now considered the largest in U.S history.


The BP wellhead had been fitted with a blowout preventer BOP but it was not fitted
with remote control or acoustically activated triggers for use in case of an emergency requiring a platform to be evacuated It did have a dead man's switch designed to automatically cut the pipe and seal the well if communication from the platform is lost,