Read Our Blog About the Transocean Rig Explosion

Families of Missing Transocean Offshore Explosion Workers Told to Expect Worst

 The families of the 11 offshore workers who went missing after the Transocean oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico this Tuesday, have been told that their loved ones are likely not coming home. According to NOLA, Transocean representatives have been calling up local families, informing them that their loved ones most likely perished in the explosion. However, Transocean says that it has been calling up workers’ families, but has not confirmed that their loved ones are dead. According to Transocean, search and rescue efforts are still on, and until these are completed, it won't be possible to confirm any deaths. The Deepwater Horizon meanwhile, sank yesterday. Fire vessels had been trying to put the flames out since the rig exploded on Tuesday, but were unsuccessful in bringing the flames under control. The Coast Guard says there is no evidence of a massive oil and leak since the rig sank.

Deepwater Horizon Rig Collapses in Gulf of Mexico

The Transocean-owned semisubmersible rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, has now sunk.  Environmental damage control teams are on standby to minimize the impact of any oil spill that may occur. According to CNN, pollution control teams are on their way. These teams will first begin assessing the amount of oil that could leak from the rig. Initial estimates put that amount at upto 336,000 gallons of oil. Approximately 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel is also likely to leak from the rig. The rig Deepwater Horizon burned for more than a day after it exploded in flames. Investigations into the oil rig explosion have begun. Speculation has been mounting about the causes for the Transocean oil rig explosion, including problems with the drilling mud which would have allowed oil and gas to leak through the well work. Supply vessels had doused the rig from all directions, trying to extinguish the flames enough to keep the rig afloat. However, these attempts were not successful and the rig sank today. Efforts to locate the 11 missing offshore workers, who have not been accounted for, still continue. However, with every passing hour, the chances of being found alive and well, decline further. Families of these workers are being prepared for bad news. Not surprisingly, not many of them are willing to give up. 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.

Survivors of Louisiana Transocean Oil Rig Explosion Back on Shore

Approximately 100 offshore workers who were working on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon when it exploded in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, have been brought back to shore on a rescue boat. The workers were brought to Port Fourchon in Louisiana. As soon as the boat docked, the workers were taken for a medical examination. All of the workers have since undergone a medical checkup, and have been reunited with their families. The offshore workers are currently at hotels in New Orleans, where they are spending some time with their families. Obviously, the Transocean oil rig explosion has  been a harrowing experience for these workers. Very few of them have been able to talk to the news media about their experiences, but family members say they are relieved and grateful to be back. The workers were obviously very tired and stressed. Meanwhile, there is still no information about the 11 missing workers. The eleven workers went missing when the oil rig exploded off the coastline of Louisiana. The Coast Guard will begin aerial rescue efforts this morning. Rescue efforts had been hampered since darkness fell, although the Coast Guard vessels continued to patrol the area around the rig. Maritime injury 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.

Transocean Oil Rig Explosion: All about the Deepwater Horizon Semisubmersible Rig

 The company at the center of the massive offshore explosion in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coastline yesterday, is Transocean. It is one of the world's largest offshore drilling rig contractors. The Deepwater Horizon is owned by Transocean. It is 396 feet long and 256 feet wide. It is a semisubmersible offshore rig, and was manufactured in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyards.  The rig is located in approximately 5,000 feet of water in the Macondo prospect in an area called the Mississippi Canyon Block 252. The Deepwater Horizon is designed to drill in water depths of up to 8,000 feet. The rig's maximum drill depth is approximately 5.5 miles. It has an accommodation capacity of up to 130 crewmembers. At the time of the explosion, there were 126 workers on board the rig. The rig is on lease to BP until September 2013. In September 2009, BP decided to extend its lease for three more years. For this, it is expected to pay an additional $3.4 million a year in rent. Last year, Transocean announced that the Deepwater Horizon had drilled approximately 6 miles, the deepest oil well on record, while drilling for BP in the Gulf of Mexico. 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.

Several Injured in Transocean Oil Rig Explosion in Gulf of Mexico

A deadly explosion ripped through the Deepwater Horizon rig, owned by Transocean and located off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 126 workers were working on the rig at the time of the explosion. Most of them were evacuated successfully. Seven people have been hospitalized with injuries. The injured persons include workers who sustained critical burn injuries and have been taken to burn centers in Alabama and Louisiana. Eleven offshore workers however, continue to remain missing. The US Coast Guard is conducting extensive marine and aerial search efforts for the missing workers. Special attention is being paid to those waters where the workers are likely to be. As darkness set in, the Coast Guard was forced to call off its aerial rescue efforts, and concentrate only on certain waters. Aerial rescue efforts will resume at daybreak tomorrow. Families of the missing offshore workers, the Coast Guard and offshore injury lawyers are keeping a continuous vigil, hoping for a miracle. At this point, it is critical that we manage to find the missing workers and get them to safety as quickly as possible. These workers are bound to have suffered an extreme amount of trauma and stress, and will require urgent medical help. Families of injured workers must also make sure that their loved ones get the high-quality emergency medical care that they need. Burn injuries can be extremely serious, and infections can quickly set in in the lack of a sterile environment and round-the-clock care. As a maritime attorney, I also hope Transocean is doing whatever it can to carry out its responsibilities and look after the medical expenses of the injured workers. 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.

Search Efforts for Missing Offshore Workers in Transocean Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig Explosion Will Resume Tomorrow

 The Coast Guard will suspend aerial search efforts for the 11 missing offshore workers who went missing after the Transocean rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf Of Mexico off the Louisiana Coast yesterday. The Coast Guard has announced that it will resume its aerial search at first light. However, its vessels will continue to patrol the waters in the area around the burning rig where the missing workers are expected to be. There are currently 115 Transocean oil rig workers who have been accounted for. 17 workers have injured, and have been evacuated by helicopter. They have been taken to hospitals in Alabama and Louisiana, including two workers with serious burn injuries who have been evacuated to burn centers in Mobile and New Orleans. Local news reports yesterday had claimed that the 11 offshore workers have been found safe and sound. While families of the victims prayed that the news was true, it unfortunately isn't, and we may have to wait a few more hours to know the fate of the missing workers. No one knows yet if the 11 workers were able to make it to one of the rig’s lifeboats in time to escape the fire. Meanwhile, terrorism or sabotage has been ruled out as a cause in this oil rig explosion. Maritime lawyer Brian Beckom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of 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.

Fiery History of Gulf of Mexico Offshore Oil Rig Blazes

 Oil experts may sneer at the idea of offshore oil rigs being anything more than safe comfortable cocoons of security, but the fact is that oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico continue to be deadly places to work in.  Since 2006, there have been 509 recorded fires on oil and gas drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Nine of these fires have killed two people, and left 12 more with  serious injuries. Transocean’s Rig Safety Record Over the past four years, Transocean rigs have been involved in 19 fires. Four of these were severe enough to cause serious injuries to workers. “Serious injuries” here means those that require evacuation to the shore. Over the past two years alone there have been two fires on Transocean rigs. The most recent offshore rig fires were in 2008, and then again,  in January this year. Those fires resulted in the deaths of two men. One of them sustained serious burn injuries, while the other jumped into the cold waters of the Gulf of Mexico to escape the blaze. Unfortunately, those figures may only be between the tip of the iceberg. Many offshore injuries go unreported or underreported. That means the actual number of injuries that occur on these oil rigs is much higher. Oil drilling companies often cite recorded injury and fatality rates to boast of their safety record. The fact however, is that there are unreported injuries that are not considered in official figures. Maritime lawyer Brian Beckom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of 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.

Did Blowout Cause Transocean Oil Rig Explosion in Gulf of Mexico?

Theories about the source of the deadly blast that injured several offshore oil workers on the Transocean oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, have begun to emerge. According to reports,  the blast likely occurred because of a blowout while the rig was drilling though rock 18,000 feet below the surface. The drilling was going on at BPs Macondo  prospect, where the waters are nearly a mile deep. As part of the process of drilling through rock, engineers use a lubricant, called drilling mud. This mud is circulated back through the well bore, pieces of rock are removed from the mud, and the money is then injected back. The mud also serves to plug the hole, ensuring that high-temperature oil and gases are not able to leak through. One theory is that there was some kind of malfunctioning with the process of the drilling mud being circulated back through the well both. The mud was not able to plug the hole, and contain the reservoir pressures. In a situation like this, oil and gases which can reach temperatures of 450 degrees, burst through and up the well bore. These oil and gases fed the flames, leading to an out of control blazing inferno. It's too early to for any offshore injury lawyer pinpoint exactly what went wrong here. Oil and gas drilling processes can be complicated and there are several things that can go wrong. I will be following this investigation as it continues, and more details are revealed about the causes of this deadly offshore explosion. Watching the news unfold on this Transocean oil explosion has been all the more poignant for me, because I represented a man who was injured in a similar Transocean oil rig explosion six years ago. Maritime lawyer Brian Beckom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of 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.