Oil workers signed documents after 40 hours in isolation?
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 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.
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Obama, nationalize BP in the US, Transocean too. Cap the spill, and shut ‘em down. They are a criminal enterprise who actually think they will still see a profit from this disaster. Shut them down. No more ocean drilling- ever.
