Deepwater Horizon survivor kept in isolation for 40 hours after rescue, pressured to sign statement

[charlesg]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/20/survivor-deepwater-horizon-gulf-oil-explosion

Deepwater Horizon survivor describes horrors of blast and escape from rig
Stephen Davis recounts how he was flung against a wall by explosion and kept at sea on work boat for 40 hours after rescue
Suzanne Goldenberg

... The day had started like any other for Davis, a 36-year-old native of San Antonio, Texas. He spent most of his 12-hour shift in the centre of the rig, welding the transporter platform for the blowout preventer (BOP). As Davis went off shift, he overheard an engineer say he was going to try to relieve the pressure on the BOP... He had been in bed watching TV for about 15 minutes when he heard the first bang. Initially he thought a crane might have dropped a piece of casing or a boom. Then the rig started shaking and the lights went out. He put a lifejacket on over his shorts and T-shirt, grabbed his tennis shoes and ran into the hallway... Davis made it to lifeboat No 1. It was an 18 metre drop to the water and the lifeboat was overloaded, but the vessel did not capsize and its pilot guided it safely to the rig's supply vessel, the Damon Bankston. He watched the Deepwater Horizon burn from there. "We actually watched the derrick melt from the starboard side of the rig as they airlifted the guys out. It was horrid, it was overwhelming, it was unbelievable."

By Davis's estimate, it took 12-15 minutes to get from the rig to the work boat, but it would take another 36-40 hours before they were to return to shore – even though there were dozens of boats in the area and Coast Guard helicopters airlifting the most severely injured to hospital. Some of the men were openly furious, while others, like Davis, were just numb. He says they were denied access to the onboard satellite phone or radio to call their families.

When the ship finally did move, it did not head for shore directly, stopping at two more rigs to collect and drop off engineers and coast guard crew before arriving at Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The company was ready for the men then, with portable toilets lined up at the dock for drug tests. The men were loaded on to buses, given a change of clothing and boxes of sandwiches, and taken to a hotel in Kenner, Louisiana, where finally they were reunited with their families.

Lawyers say the isolation was deliberate and that Transocean was trying to wear the men down so they would sign statements denying that they had been hurt or that they had witnessed the explosion that destroyed the rig. "These men are told they have to sign these statements or they can't go home," said (Davis' lawyer Anthony) Buzbee. "I think it's pretty callous, but I'm not surprised by it." Davis had been awake nonstop for about 50 hours by that point. He signed. Buzbee says most of the men did...

[Lerkfish]

1. call the FBI... that's kidnapping.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Exactly what I'da thought.

:shrug:

[G_j]

9. that's ok

they're allowed to do what they think is best..

:sarcasm:

[RKP5637]

2. Sounds more like kidnapping... n/t

[Selatius]

3. That's nothing short of human slavery. It's slavery. nt

[Peace Patriot]

5. Welcome to Dick Cheney's world!

He's still at large, as I understand it.

You know, I read a news story during Katrina about work crews who were working round the clock trying to restore electricity to several hospitals, or so they thought. They found out that what they were doing was restoring electricity to the Texas-to-the-east coast oil pipeline and that this order had come directly from Dick Cheney's office. It was the only time that Cheney surfaced during that Bushistic catastrophe--to divert work crews from hospitals to oil profits. It was a lamestream news report, with quotes and attributions from workers and their supervisors, but it then vanished into the corporate 'news' monopoly river of forgetfulness--no follow up, no finger pointing, no editorials. I wonder if those workers also had to "sign statements."

[blindpig]

6. What is the difference between capitalism and criminal enterprise?

None that I can see.

[jgraz]

10. Most criminal enterprises aren't nearly as profitable

or as damaging to society.

[blindpig]

11. Good point

The Mafia are wannabes by comparison. The capitalists should be treated accordingly.

[Solly Mack]

7. k/r

[w4rma]

8. An agreement signed under coercement isn't legal and binding. (nt)

[RC]

12. It is when you have the power of BP and a Corporatist administration

over seeing things.