Oil rig workers’ suit claims they were kept at sea for more than 10 hours after explosion

Suit: Workers kept at sea hours after explosion

MIAMI — Three workers forced to escape on lifeboats after an explosion aboard an offshore drilling platform claimed in a lawsuit Tuesday that they were kept floating at sea for more than 10 hours while the rig burned uncontrollably.

“After these guys were pulled off the rig, they were kept in lifeboats for over 10 hours and saw the whole thing burn. They knew their friends were still on that rig burning,” said Kurt Arnold, the Houston-based attorney who filed the lawsuit on the men’s behalf. “They couldn’t call anyone at home and say they were OK.”

The lawsuit, filed in county court in Galveston, Texas, seeks unspecified damages on behalf of rig workers Joshua Kritzer, Bill Johnson and Nick Watson, all from Louisiana; and the family of Aaron Dale Burkeen of Mississippi, one of 11 workers missing and presumed dead following the April 20 explosion. Burkeen left a wife and two children.

Guy Cantwell, a spokesman for rig owner Transocean Ltd., defended the company’s response to a disaster some 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.

“One-hundred and fifteen people got off this rig alive,” he said.

Rig workers or their families have filed at least two other wrongful death or personal injury lawsuits against Transocean, rig operator BP PLC and other companies involved in the offshore drilling operation. One worker who was seriously injured, electronics technician Michael Williams, is seeking $6 million in damages in a lawsuit filed in Louisiana federal court.

The explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon has triggered a major environmental disaster because an uncapped well continues to spew some 200,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, threatening beaches, fisheries and wildlife. Nearly 50 potential class-action lawsuits have been filed by fishermen, property owners, restaurateurs, resort companies and others claiming the spill is causing or will cause steep economic losses.

According to the Texas case, Burkeen was a crane operator on the rig. He was supposed to be off duty that night, but decided to relieve another operator so that man could get some dinner. That’s when an initial explosion happened.

“He tried to cradle the crane and escape down the stairs,” the lawsuit says, adding that a second blast likely claimed his life. It is not clear exactly what happened the night of the explosion and fire, and officials from Transocean and BP have said the cause remains under investigation.

Rig workers seriously injured in the explosion were taken to hospitals by helicopter, Arnold said. But others were made to wait on the lifeboats despite suffering injuries and severe stress. Some didn’t make it home until 40 hours after the rig blew up and were required by company officials to first give statements at a hotel in Kenner, La., about what they witnessed, he said.

Watson was on the rig’s deck, according to the lawsuit, “when suddenly mud came out of the hole at alarming speeds. The power went out and then the explosions occurred. Watson suffered smoke inhalation and other injuries, such as post-traumatic stress “from watching many of his friends get severely injured and die” in the disaster.

Kritzer, who did cleanup work on the rig, was blown over 30 feet in a hallway and the ceiling collapsed on him, causing him to black out. He suffered a head injury and post-traumatic stress as well, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit accuses BP, Transocean and the other companies of negligence and contends that the Deepwater Horizon was not seaworthy.

“Oil rig workers face some of the most dangerous working conditions in the world,” Arnold said. “That’s why companies like Transocean and BP have rules they must follow to protect every worker.”

BP declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.

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Associated Press writers Garance Burke and David Koenig contributed to this story.