2010 Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico

Five years ago, on April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of the United States, which developed into a man-made disaster. The explosion and resulting fire killed 11 people and injured 17 of the 126 people on the platform leased by British Petroleum. Two more died in the aftermath of the disaster. About 5 million barrels of oil spilled through damaged well pipes at a depth of 1,500 meters into the Gulf of Mexico in 152 days, the oil slick spread over 75,000 square kilometers.

As a result of the pre-trial deal, BP paid $7.8 billion in damages to 100,000 plaintiffs. According to the BP report, the causes of the accident were the human factor, in particular the wrong decisions of the personnel, technical problems and design flaws of the oil platform.