Oil Crew Rescuer Opens up about Explosion
More than three weeks after the oil rig exploded, a sea captain is now telling the story of how his crew rescued more than 100 workers, CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports.
Meanwhile, BP will make another attempt Thursday night in the Gulf of Mexico to get control of the oil leak, which has grown to about 4 million gallons.
Complete Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf
Moments after the rig first exploded, the roar booms in an exclusive video shot by a crewman and obtained by CBS News.
The roar was the sound of escaping gas, feeding the fireball incinerating the Deepwater Horizon.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday, rig's on fire; abandoning ship," supply ship captain Alwin Landry said he heard coming from the rig.
Landry's ship, the Damon B. Bankston, was stationed alongside the rig and was the only one in sight.
A rain of mud had suddenly showered Landry's ship, signaling the beginning of the well's blowout. Then: boom.
"A giant fireball, a few secondary explosions, personnel mustering, those initial ones jumping," Landry said.
Those crew members were jumping 70 feet.
Then, the rig lost power. A general alarm sounded. The Bankston pulled away to safety, fleeing a rig erupting into catastrophe.
"It was a really, really tense situation," Landry said.
In all, Landry's crew rescued 115 people.
"It was very, very intense," said Landry. "That was one of my most nervous points was watching my crew go into the situation, the heat intensities, the fire and water spreading."
As the rig burned, Coast Guard helicopters airlifted the injured to shore, four of them critically hurt but alive.
"I couldn't be more proud of my crew in a situation like this," said Landry. "They performed wonderfully."
Two days later, the rig sank, and the environmental crisis began.
BP's current plan? Thread a tube into the leaking pipe and suck the oil to a surface ship, the equivalent of a mile-long straw.
BP could start the process of inserting the pipe Thursday night to have it in place by Friday.
If that doesn't work, they'll try the so-called top hat, which involves placing a smaller containment box over the leak to trap the oil and then funnel it to the surface.
This is the rest of the crew who was on board with Capt. Alwin Landry:
Norman Logsdon, 2nd Captain
Paul Erickson, Mate
Jeffrey Malcolm, Mate
Gary LeBlanc, Chief Engineer
Anthony Gervasio, Engineer
Billy Marsh, Qmed
Elton Johnson, Qmed
Germone Vaughn, AB
John Logan, AB
Louis Longlois, AB
Jonathan Escala, AB
Kenneth Bounds, Cook
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