BP oil spill: harrowing escapes of Deepwater Horizon survivors

“I didn’t have a lot of time to investigate, but it wasn’t normal,” he said.

Harrell said that in the day prior to the explosions he had spent time hosting a delegation of top BP officials who were visiting the rig to congratulate its workers on going seven years without a lost-time incident, and to discuss what would happen when the well drilling was finished.

Harrell denied that they had pressured him to complete work quickly. BP might have been paying the bills, but they did not have complete control of Deepwater Horizon operations, he said.

“We don’t just do something because the company man wants it,” said Harrell.

Still, Harrell added that in the days prior to the catastrophe BP’s plan for the cap-off of the well “kept changing”.

Stephen Stone: went back for his wedding ring

Roustabout Stephen Stone said that the Deepwater Horizon’s blowout and explosion was hardly the first thing to go wrong on the rig. He had been working on deck, helping with drilling mud, and four times in the previous twenty days they had had to stop pumping mud down into the well, and instead pump down a heavy-duty sealant to stop up cracks in the well foundation.

Mr. Stone, in a statement to the House Judiciary Committee, said he was asleep in his cabin below decks when the first explosion occurred. Disoriented, he waited a few seconds to see what was going on – and a second explosion ripped through his body and collapsed the ceiling on top of him.

Someone forced open the door to his cabin. People were running back and forth in the hall screaming that they had to get out. He struggled out the door and made for the stair to the lifeboat deck, but it had collapsed. He returned to his room to get a life jacket, shoes, and his wedding ring.

He followed a colleague to the other end of the living quarters and went up another stairway to the lifeboat deck. The air was full of smoke and grit. The light from the derrick fire was so bright it seemed like daytime. Some survivors moved towards the lifeboats. Others just stood there in shock, staring at the fire.

Stone climbed into a lifeboat.

“I was pretty certain I was going to die so I just sat there and waited for what was going to happen,” he said.

After what seemed like hours the boat was lowered. Stone made it back to land after 28 hours, and was immediately asked by Transocean to take a drug test, he said.

“Only then could I call my wife,” he said. “Thirty-one hours after the explosion I was given a hotel room and allowed to rest.”

Related:

• In Louisiana, people hope – and pray – for a Gulf oil spill miracle
• Gulf oil spill: the 51 minutes that led to disaster
• How to watch BP live video feed of 'top kill' maneuver

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