Oil Spill

-When did the oil spill happen?
April 20, 2010

-How did it happen?
A semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and sank two days later. Causing oil to gush out under water.

-Was there anyone killed in the explosion?
There were 9 platform workers and two engineers that worked on the oil rig killed. It also injured 17 others. There were 126 people on it when the explosion occurred. 79 of them were Transocean employees, 6 were from BP, and 41 were contracted. 115 were evacuated while the rest didn't make it out in time. At the time, there was a group of BP executives on board celebrating the companies safety record. They were injured, but survived.

-How could this have been avoided?
This could have been avoided if the company took care of the problems they had with the rig when they first started happening. If they would've fixed the damages to it, this probably wouldn't have happened.

-How much will this cost?
This is costing the fishing industry $2.5 Billion. And Florida's tourism along Paradise Coast has lost about $3 Billion. The oil spill not just effected the fishing industry, it also effects the shrimping industry. They had to have an emergency catch on April 29 so they could get something in before the oil got to the shrimp. And if they wouldn't have done that, they probably wouldn't be able to catch any shrimp. To pay for the clean-up, it could cost BP up to $75 million. On May 13th, BP reported that the cost of the oil spill alone had reached $450 million and it rises by $10 million a day.