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[U]Victim - Adam Weise[/U] [B]Deepwater Horizon Victim - Adam Weise[/B]
[LEFT]Adam Weise - from Yorktown, Texas - was a floor hand aboard the Deepwater Horizon at the time the rig exploded. The youngest of four children, Adam began working offshore immediately after graduating from high school.
A popular football player, during his high school years, Adam was 24 years old when he died in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. He and five other victims were working below deck, either in the mud pit (where drilling materials were handled) or in the nearby shaker room. They were likely killed in the initial blast
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[B]DEEPWATER HORIZON VICTIM - SHANE ROSHTO[/B]
[LEFT]Shane Roshto, an employee of Transocean, was 22 years old on the 20th of April, 2010. He was working on board the Deepwater Horizon oil rig as a floor hand. The youngest of the eleven explosion victims, he left behind his wife (Natalie, age 21) and son (Blaine, age 3).
We learn more about Shane, and his family, from a statement which Natalie gave to members of a federal investigation committee on the 7th of June, 2010:
[B]In the early hours of April 21st when I received news of the explosion and fire I never thought that I would be sitting here. I never thought that I would go home to a bright-eyed three-year-old and have to face the fact that his Daddy, my husband, would never come home to us. Every three weeks when Blaine and I would give Shane our last loves sending him off for three weeks I always feared the helicopter ride, but never did this kind of tragedy come to mind. Through God’s grace, family and friends, Blaine and I are making it through.
After all the safety schools, meetings, fire drills and safety regulations I just knew he was safe. When the events of the Deepwater Horizon explosion started to unfold I asked myself will I ever personally recover; what if he’s out there and they just didn’t look long enough? As the days passed Shane’s absence became reality.
My husband took great pride in his job, loved his work and all his Deepwater Horizon family, but most important he knew offshore work provided the life he wanted for his son. He loved us unselfishly and provided a lifestyle that allowed me to attend college and to be home with Blaine. During Shane’s off weeks he spent time everyday with Blaine passing on his love for the outdoors, hunting and fishing and doing for others.
As the days pass I ask why? What happened? The life Blaine and I knew is over. My love story came to an end. Though he is a mirror image of his Daddy, Blaine now has a void that will never be filled.
As I sit here today, I come with a new perspective. A perspective that I hope can make a difference - one that will ensure safety to every man in the oilfield. I fully support offshore drilling because like Shane, many men and women depend on this as a means to provide for their families and to provide our country with a commodity that is a necessary part of everyday life. I would like to leave here today knowing that because of the tragic death of my husband we can begin to focus on making safety the most important priority. Not to focus on making more safety regulations, but on ways to effectively implement and use the ones already in place. This tragedy will not be in vain if it serves to make the lives of every man and woman working in the oilfield the top priority and cause the powerful oil companies to know that they will be held accountable for their actions. My intense interest in Shane’s work led us through many conversations detailing work carried out on the Deepwater Horizon and the many safety practices that were in place. It is my hope that these 11 men who suffered a tragic death will serve as a motive to enforce safety above all else.
I pray every day when I awake and at bedtime prayers with Blaine that I can sit him down one day and be able to tell him that his Daddy is a hero - a hero to all oilfield men and women because his death changed the heart and soul of those who place their business agenda over the importance of life.
In closing, I would like to ask that the next time you see a picture of the Deepwater Horizon in flames or hear about the oil spill that you think about this: The flow of oil will eventually be stopped, slowly the environment will recover, the Gulf I pray will continue to provide us with oil and gas and many other things that we all enjoy, but the lives of the 11 men, their survivors and heroes of the Deepwater Horizon will forever be changed. We can only hope that the legacy of this tragedy will be much more than a devastating oil spill, but an unfortunate tragedy that prompted changes creating a safer environment for those who love their work in the oilfields of the Gulf of Mexico.
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It is believed that Shane was working in the mud pit, or nearby shaker room, when the rig exploded. His body was not recovered.
[FONT=Times][I]Credits[/I]
Image online, courtesy Transocean’s condolences web site.
Statement of Natalie Roshto, online courtesy Committee on Energy and Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives.
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[B]Deepwater Horizon Victim - Dewey Revette [/B]
[LEFT]On the day he disappeared in the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Dewey Revette was 48 years old. He was a driller from State Line, Mississippi.
He is believed to have died while [working on the rig floor](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264721101985024.html#p roject%3DOILRIG1005%26articleTabs%3Dinteractive).[/LEFT]
Deepwater Horizon: Disaster in the Gulf > Deepwater Horizon Victim - Blair Manuel[B]DEEPWATER HORIZON VICTIM - BLAIR MANUEL[/B]
[LEFT]Blair Manuel - from Gonzales, Louisiana - was 56 years old on the day Deepwater Horizon exploded. He left behind his parents, three daughters and a fiancé with whom he was planning a July wedding. [/LEFT]
[LEFT]A mud engineer aboard the vessel, Mr. Manuel (who worked for M-I-SWACO) was also an avid LSU fan. He had season tickets to LSU’s football games.
Manuel and five other victims were working below deck, either in the mud pit (where drilling materials were handled) or in the nearby shaker room. They were likely killed in the initial blast.
Known to his hunting buddies as “Grow Bebe” - meaning “big baby” - Blair loved being outdoors. He also loved to fish.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Blair’s parents (L.D. and Geneva Manuel) have a wish - that BP will pay for a boat to take members of all eleven families to the place where their loved ones were killed. According to NPR (National Public Radio):[/LEFT]
[LEFT][B]BP faces a lot of questions about safety, about how the rescue of the survivors was handled, but there was no bitterness in this crowd[/B] [those attending Blair’s funeral]. [B]Many people across this state[/B] [Louisiana] [B]depend on oil and gas drilling for their daily bread. Blair Manuel’s memory box was buried in a local cemetery [/B][because his body was not recovered]. [B]His parents would like to see another memorial. They’d like the companies involved in this explosion to bring all 11 families out on a boat to see their final resting place. [/B][/LEFT]
[LEFT]Blair’s parents would also like the media to at least talk about the eleven people who died. Geneva told an NPR reporter:[/LEFT]
[LEFT][B]It’s not that I’m insensitive to animals or anything else. This is just a time where I don’t want to see a dove being cleaned by Dawn liquid when my son is not there[/B][/LEFT]
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//youtu.be/b6t4Zs5Yq_k
Deepwater Horizon Victim - Karl Dale Kleppinger[/B]
[LEFT]Karl Dale Kleppinger Jr. - from Natchez, Mississippi - was 38 years old on the 20th of April, 2010. He and his wife, Tracy, had a son, Aaron.
It is believed that Karl died while [working in the mud pit](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264721101985024.html#p roject%3DOILRIG1005%26articleTabs%3Dinteractive), where drilling materials are handled, or in a nearby shaker room.
For anyone wishing to donate in memory of Karl, the Kleppinger family asks that such donations be made to the Natchez Humane Society. According to the condolences/donations page, at Transocean, “Karl and his wife adopted all of their animals” from this organization.
Donations should be sent to this address:
Natchez Humane Society
"In Remembrance of Karl Kleppinger, Jr."
392 Liberty Road
Natchez, MS 39120
(601) 442-4001 [/LEFT]
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[li]Home[/li][li]Condolences[/li][li]Photos & Video[/li][li]Donate[/li][li]Memorial[/li][li]Incident Links[/li][/ul]
[B]We Will Never Forget[/B]
On April 20, 2010, a fire and explosion occurred onboard the Deepwater Horizon, working approximately 41 miles offshore Louisiana on Mississippi Canyon Block 252. Of the 126-member crew, 115 were safely evacuated. Despite exhaustive rescue efforts, eleven crew members lost their lives. It is with deepest sorrow that we send our condolences to all of the family and friends affected by this tragedy. Today, and always, we honor your loved ones.
Share your memories and words of support in our condolences section http://www.deepwaterhorizoncondolences.com/photo-gallery.asp
Horizon Victim - Roy Wyatt Kemp
[LEFT]Roy Wyatt Kemp was scheduled to come home, for a time, the day after Deepwater Horizon exploded. His little daughter, three-year-old Kaylee, was counting down the days. It was something she always did whenever her father was expected.
The [I]Natchez Democrat[/I], a Mississippi newspaper which ran stories about some of the Deepwater 11, provides more details about Wyatt and his family. There we learn that Kaylee’s countdown for her father’s return ended when her mother told her he could not come home again.
The following is from Wyatt’s obituary, provided online by Young’s Funeral Home in Jonesville, Louisiana:
[B]Wyatt was born on January 21, 1983 in Ferriday, La. to Peggy Kemp and the late Sandy Lee Kemp. He was a resident of Jonesville, La. and a member of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Jonesville, La.[/B][B] Wyatt was a devoted husband[/B] [to Courtney Carpenter Kemp], [B]father[/B] [of Kaylee Joyce and Clara Maddison] [B]and son but most of all he was a man who loved the Lord. Wyatt had a unique sense of humor. He loved the outdoors and was an avid fisherman and hunter. He enjoyed spending time with his family, friends, hunting dog Ellie, and fellow crewman of the Deepwater Horizon owned by his employer, Transocean Deepwater Drilling.[/B]
It is believed that Wyatt died while working in the mud pit, where drilling materials are handled, or in a nearby shaker room. He was 27 years old.
Instead of burying his remains - because his body was not recovered - the family buried a box of things which meant something to the person they lost.
Courtney Kemp gave a statement to members of Congress who are investigating why Deepwater Horizon exploded, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and producing America’s worst oil leak. The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held the hearing on the 7th of June, 2010, in Chalmette, Louisiana. The hearing’s subject was the “Local Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.”
The following is the text of Courtney’s statement (this is a PDF link):
[B]My name is Courtney Kemp and I am from Jonesville, LA. My husband is Roy Wyatt Kemp, one of 11 men killed on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded on April 20, 2010.
My husband and I have two precious daughters: Kaylee, 3, and Maddison, 4 months. Our girls will only know what a wonderful father they had by the stories we tell them. While I understand companies must make a profit, I do not believe it should be at the expense of risking lives and destroying families. I am asking you to please consider harsh punishments on companies who choose to ignore safety standards before other families are destroyed. I am not here today to suggest that Congress implement more safety regulations but rather to encourage you to hold companies accountable for safety regulations all ready in place and merely neglected. If proper safety procedures had been taken on the Deepwater Horizon, it is my firm belief that this tragic accident would have been prevented and my husband and the others would be alive today.
It is no secret that the oil spill has affected the environment. One can see the devastation that is happening to the coast line and magnitude of its effects on the seafood industry in general. However, our state has overcome many adversities in the past including numerous weather related issues such as hurricanes and droughts. We as Americans are strong people and will recover from this tragedy as well.
America is a rich nation regarding natural resources, but in my opinion we have become too dependent upon foreign imports, this includes oil. While we realize we are suffering from economic impacts resulting from the leaking oil it would be even more devastating if you allow drilling in the gulf to cease. If drilling ceases not only would off shore employees lose their jobs, but the trickle down effect would be devastating not only to the coastal states, but eventually to the entire country. You must not allow this to happen. Drilling in the gulf must continue.
I would also like to speak with the members of Congress about one of the many acts of Congress that may have a negative effect on my family’s future. The Death on the High Seas Act is an antiquated Act of Congress, passed in 1920, which spells out the losses that the family of a person who suffers wrongful death on the high seas may recover.
DOSHA is a comprehensive act that limits allowable damages for deaths occurring on the high seas. This act does not permit the applications of state wrongful death remedies. It does not look to General Maritime Law to supplement the act’s limitations.
In essence, the act limits the liability of the wrongdoers in this matter such as BP, Transocean and many others.
My family can never and will never be adequately compensated for our loss. What I am seeking is accountability from the wrongdoers who caused this terrible tragedy.
I ask that members of Congress use this catastrophe as a basis to revisit and amend this outdated Act from 1920. Revise DOSHA with 21st century standards and realities in mind.
Please use this opportunity to make corporate America more responsible and accountable. Require corporate wrongdoers to fully, fairly, and adequately compensate the victims of senseless accidents.
Thank You.[/B]
To leave a message for Wyatt’s family, and to view more pictures which have been posted online by his friends and family, visit the Memorial Page created in his honor.
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[U]Horizon: Disaster in the Gulf[/U] > Deepwater Horizon Victim - Gordon Jones [B]Deepwater Horizon Victim - Gordon Jones[/B]
[LEFT]From Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gordon Jones and his wife Michelle were expecting their second child at the time Deepwater Horizon exploded. Twenty-four days after her husband died in the disaster, Michelle gave birth to another son. His name is Maxwell Gordon Jones.
Gordon (who was employed by M-I-SWACO) was a mud engineer aboard the oil rig. He was twenty-eight years old on the day he disappeared in the blast. A week earlier, as depicted in this photo, he was having fun with his son Stafford.
Jones and five other victims were working below deck, either in the mud pit (where drilling materials were handled) or in the nearby shaker room. They were likely killed in the initial blast.
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[B]Deepwater Horizon Victim - Stephen Curtis[/B]
[LEFT]Stephen Curtis - from Georgetown, Louisiana - was an assistant driller on the Deepwater Horizon. Forty years old on the day the rig exploded (April 20, 2010), he left behind his wife and two teenage children.
He was a 1987 graduate of Georgetown High School and had worked in the oil industry seventeen years. He’d followed the footsteps of his dad, Howard Curtis, who served as a diver-welder for thirty-four years.
It is believed Mr. Curis died on the rig floor.[/LEFT]
[B]Deepwater Horizon Victim - Donald Clark[/B]
Donald Clark was an assistant driller from Newelton, Louisiana. He was aboard Deepwater Horizon when the vessel exploded on the 20th of April, 2010.
[LEFT]At the time of his death, as a result of the disaster, Mr. Clark was married to Sheila Clark. He also left behind two sons and two daughters.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]According to his obituary, family members sometimes called him “Duck.” Mr. Clark was “from a loving family who will miss his very presence. He was a gentle individual who had a big impact on his loved ones daily.”
It is believed that Donald died [on the rig floor](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264721101985024.html#p roject%3DOILRIG1005%26articleTabs%3Dinteractive), along with Jason Anderson, Stephen Ray Curtis and Dewey Revette
//youtu.be/ZoJz2SANTyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZoJz2SANTyo[/LEFT]
Horizon Victim - Dale Burkeen
[LEFT]In this photo, Dale Burkeen is with his son, Timothy, age 6. Known to his friends as “Bubb,” Dale - from Philadelphia, Mississippi - was a crane operator aboard the Deepwater Horizon. When he died in the explosion, he left behind his wife Rhonda, his daughter Aryn Sydney and his son.
The[I] Wall Street Journal[/I] reported some of the facts surrounding Mr. Burkeen’s death:
[B]Dale Burkeen, a 37-year-old Mississippian who operated the rig’s tall starboard crane, had been trying to get out of harm’s way when the blast hit. It blew him off a catwalk, other workers say, and he fell more than 50 feet to the deck, where he died.[/B]
We learn more from his obituary notice:
[B]Memorial services were Friday, April 30, 2 p.m. at John E. Stephens Chapel with the Revs. Barry Fulton and Kevin Bryan officiating. Burial will be in North Bend Pentecostal Cemetery.
Mr. Burkeen, 37, of Philadelphia, died Tuesday, April 20, 2010, on Transocean Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico southeast of New Orleans. He had worked for Transocean deep water drilling for 10 years. He attended Neshoba Central High School and East Central Community College.
Survivors include his wife, Rhonda Burkeen of Philadelphia; daughter, Aryn Sydney Burkeen of Alaska; son, Timothy Dale Burkeen; parents, Mary Bryan Burkeen and Roger Burkeen; sisters, Janet Patricia Woodson and her husband, Archie; and Felesia Dawn Hamilton and her husband, Charlie, all of Philadelphia.[/B]
A local newspaper reported that Dale helped other crew members to save their lives, but he was unable to get off the platform in time to save himself.
Known as “Big D,” to his friends and family, Burkeen was the kind of guy who put others first. His cousin, Douglas Walker, describes him this way:
[B]Dale was a very unselfish person, very kind-hearted. He always has been through life. He’s the type of guy who would give you the shirt off his back, if you needed it. [/B]
[B]I will be missing a friend, more than a cousin. Each one of the family members will miss something different. They will miss a son. She[/B] [Dale’s sister, Janet Woodson] [B]will be missing her brother. The children will miss a father, a great father. Rhonda will miss a husband, and all in all, a world has lost a friend[/B]
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Jason Anderson
[LEFT]Jason Anderson was the most senior of the eleven men who died in the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Thirty-five years old, he was hours away from leaving the rig for a new assignment. With his wife, Shelly, he had a son and a daughter.
Highly respected by his crewmates, Jason did his best to cope with a disastrous situation after gas had escaped from the wellhead, nearly 5,000 feet below the platform. Working on the rig floor, Jason and two others tried to stop the flow of gas before Deepwater Horizon exploded. He and three others - Stephen Ray Curtis, Donald Clark and Dewey Revette - are believe to have died on the rig floor.
Bloomberg reports on his final efforts which saved many lives:
[B]In discussions with some of the 115 rig workers who were rescued after the blast, Billy Anderson said he learned that his son’s efforts during the final minutes to control the pressure surge saved scores of lives.
“My boy was cremated,” Billy Anderson said. “But the actions he and those other 10 heroes took are what made it possible for more than 100 other people to escape with their lives.”
Jason Anderson was a toolpusher, an offshore drilling job akin to foreman on a construction site, which gave him responsibility for overseeing the workers involved in the nuts-and-bolts of drilling and finishing wells.
Anderson had worked aboard the Deepwater Horizon since it was launched from a South Korean shipyard in 2001, his father said. Once the vessel arrived in the Gulf of Mexico, he worked alongside exploration specialists from BP, which had the rig under lease for all of its existence. Prior to that, he was assigned to the Cajun Express, another of Geneva-based Transocean’s most sophisticated rigs.
Father of Two
Shortly before last month’s disaster, Anderson had been promoted to senior toolpusher and was scheduled to transfer to his new post aboard another rig, the Discoverer Spirit, by helicopter at 7 a.m. on April 21. The Deepwater Horizon exploded nine hours before his flight was due to lift off.
Anderson, a father of two and a former high school football middle linebacker, started working aboard offshore rigs in 1995, scraping paint from below the water line, the lowest-ranking job on a rig.
His father thought the grueling labor would convince his son to study harder after two lackluster years of junior college. Instead, Jason Anderson decided he enjoyed being offshore and began working his way up to jobs of increasing responsibility, his father said.
“He loved his work and thought of his crewmates as family,” said Billy Anderson. “He was the kind of son a man wants and loves and hopes his son will be.” [/B]
As investigators try to piece together events before (and during) the disaster, two of the Deepwater Horizon widows testified on the 7th of June, 2010. Held by the House Energy subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, in Chalmette St. Bernard Parish (Louisiana), the hearings included Natalie Roshto (wife of Shane Roshto) and Courtney Kemp (wife of Roy Wyatt Kemp).
The widows talked about their husbands’ concerns during the weeks leading up to the explosion. According to Mrs. Kemp:
[B]This well was different in the fact that they were having so many problems, and so many things were happening, and it was just kind of out of hand. [/B] (Reported by the [I]New Orleans Times-Picayune[/I], June 7, 2010.)
On the day that Deepwater Horizon exploded, the “Death on the High Seas Act” - a ninety-year-old federal law - governed the amount of financial compensation which families of deceased oil-rig workers can receive.
The law restricts such amounts, for the families of the Deepwater Eleven, to only financial damages (such as wages) and precludes any recovery for loss of companionship and other forms of “non-pecuniary” losses
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I have not worked in the oil field for many years, but I can still remember the times when I was out on Eugene Island 349B, when we had near disasters, & that feeling in your gut knowing that in a heartbeat, you could become a part of that ocean below the rig. That morning, a year ago, I was on my way to work when I heard on the news about the DWH fire. My wife saw a side of me she has never seen, it was like I was back offshore, & another rig was in trouble, it seemed that personal to me, & thanks to gCaptain, I followed closely as the disaster unfolded. I think once you have worked offshore, & bonded with your fellow rig mates, it’s something that stays with you forever. I know most of you understand, & my wife finally figured it out. With that said, I want you all to know that the 11 lost, their family, friends, & coworkers are in my thoughts and prayers, this day a year later, & I praise those brave folks that went to the rescue that terrible night.
Robbie Stuart
Exhelimech wrote:
“I have not worked in the oil field for many years, but I can still remember the times when I was out on Eugene Island 349B, when we had near disasters, & that feeling in your gut knowing that in a heartbeat, you could become a part of that ocean below the rig.”
Good post sir. I am certain there are thousands of ex oilfield workers who felt the anxiety you felt on April 20th. I know i did and one of the first things I thought about is where is my son working this week?
For those of you who have been lurking and reading, I encourage you to take this opportunity to post your thoughts like exhelimech did today .
I know that its been 31 years since I last worked in the oilfield but I recollect many close calls on boats, helicopters, seaplanes, and on various rigs and platforms…
Every incident that happens causes me to reflect on something similar that somehow luckily turned out OK for us.