Registered: 11/02/02
Posts: 7540
Loc: Empire / Venice, La
Deep water Horizion exploded about 10:00 pm last night and the situation is critical. This rig is a large production floater in several thousand feet of water. I always thought they had about 50 people on them. Man was I wrong! at the time of the explosion there were 126 people on it. So far there are no deaths but the injury list is going up as things start to settle down. 2 have been transfered to a special trauma unit in critical condition.
The pictures I have seen show it leaning and it may sink by the end of the day. The water around it is also burning.
This rig had a lot of 35-50 pound yellowfin on it this week. They also hold a lot of other fish and when the rig is moved from one place to another many of them follow. With all the commotion and changes in the water they may get scared away.
This disaster may become another tool for the tree huggers to use against further development. With all the danger and activity in this field the safety factor is always at the top of the list. They have a good record. It is a shame that such a drastic thing had to happen.
I am praying for no deaths and the few missing will be found on a raft somewhere or are already on a boat and have not yet been reported. There was a report of a raft sighting last night by the Coast Guard and they are searching for it at this time. One report is 11 missing and another report is 15 missing. Very confusing at this time.
At this time NO deaths!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.