3 from Miss. among missing
rig workers

Jimmie E. Gates • jgates@clarionledger.com •
April 23, 2010

At least three Mississippians are among the 11
missing after Tuesday's oil rig explosion in the Gulf
of Mexico, and a fourth might have survived.

Dewey Revette, 48, of State Line; Aaron Dale
Burkeen, 37, of the Sandtown community near
Philadelphia; and Shane Roshto, 22, of Liberty, were
not accounted for Thursday evening, more than two
days after the rig exploded 41 miles off the
Louisiana coast.

"All we can do is pray," said Sheryl Revette, who is
waiting at the couple's home for news about her
husband, Dewey.

Randy Ezell of Jayess is believed to have survived
the tragedy.

During a Thursday afternoon news conference,
Coast Guard and company officials said the rescue
mission was ongoing but cautioned they would
search for 12 more hours before assuming the
missing are dead.

Sheryl Revette hasn't given up hope.

"They're still searching," she said of her husband,
who has worked on oil rigs for 29 years.

"You always worry, but you worry even in your own
front yard," she said.

She said she planned to go to Louisiana until she
heard her husband was one of the missing crew
members. "When we hear more news, we will head
that way," she said.

Sheryl Revette said she last talked to her husband
Monday night. She said she missed his call
Tuesday, and he was scheduled to come home
Wednesday.

State Line, a town of 555, borders Alabama in
Greene County.

Rhonda Burkeen said Thursday her family was
getting hourly updates from authorities. She said
her husband, the father of two children, was a crane
operator on the rig.

While the search continued Thursday, the football
field-sized structure collapsed and sank into the
Gulf, creating environmental concerns.

There were 126 crew members aboard the rig. It's
confirmed that 115 survived, but 17 of those are
injured including four who were listed in critical
condition.

"The cause of the fire and explosion is unknown at
this time. An investigation into the cause of the
incident and assessment of the damage will be
ongoing in the days or weeks to come," Transocean
spokesman Guy Cantwell told The Clarion-Ledger in
a statement Thursday.


Most of the crew members are employed by
Transocean Ltd. Of the missing crew, nine are
Transocean employees and two are contract
employees, according to company officials.

Cantwell said Thursday that he did not have the
Advertisement breakdown on the number of Mississippians among
the missing. There could be others.

According to published reports, a lawsuit was filed
Thursday in New Orleans on behalf of Shane
Roshto, accusing BP and Transocean of negligence.
The lawsuit says Roshto is feared dead.

His last MySpace entry was Monday when he said
"Chillin out on the rig ... Ready to go home but
gonna work over on the stack ... Missin Nat and
Blaine ..."

On the page, Roshto said he is from Central, La., but
moved to Liberty, a town of 633 in the southwest
corner of the state, as a high school freshman.

Roshto's webpage said he met his wife, Natalie,
when he was a high school junior. They have one
child, Blaine.

Roshto was alternating two weeks a month at home
and two weeks on the oil rig, the webpage said.

Ezell, of Jayess, an unincorporated community in
south Mississippi, also was on the oil rig. His wife,
Dora, reportedly had received word that he was
saved. She left a message on their home phone
voicemail for him to call her cell phone.

"Thank God. You're alive," Dora Ezell said on the
message. "We're heading to meet you."

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100423/NEWS/4230348

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Saturday, Apr 24, 2010 Posted on Fri, Apr. 23, 2010
Search suspended for 11 oil-rig workers
By DONNA MELTON
The Coast Guard on Friday night suspended its search for 11 workers missing since Tuesday when the Transocean Deepwater Horizon mobile oil rig exploded and sank about 50 miles off the coast of Venice, La., as environmentalists brace for the floating slick’s impact.
Coast ferry boat Captain Louis Skrmetta said tourism and seafood industries could take a major hit if the spill from the sunken rig reaches the state’s beaches on the Coast and along the barrier islands.

Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network, said she has increasing concerns about the unknown amount of oil and fuel potentially threatening marine life and eventually, the coastlines and islands from Louisiana to Alabama.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s public affairs specialist, John Ewald, confirmed Friday afternoon the well’s head valve had been shut and was no longer leaking.

The rig burned for nearly two days until it sank Thursday morning. Officials initially feared as much as 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day could have leaked from the drill site before it was capped. About 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel that was on the rig may have burned off in the fire.

A sheen appeared to cover an area about 2 miles wide and 8 miles long Friday afternoon, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Ashley Butler.

The NOAA Office of Response and Restoration’s Web site says a slick is formed when oil spreads out rapidly across the water. As it continues to spread, it becomes a thinner, rainbow-like layer called a sheen.

Officials have not determined the cause of the explosion, or how much oil or fuel remains in the ocean.

Skrmetta said whatever the amount, it’s too much.

“One has to assume (it’s) enough to cause major damage to the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana islands and marshes if the winds and currents push the material as far north as predicted,” he said. “Even if cleanup crews take care of most of the surface material, we still have the threat of oil that sunk to the bottom returning to the surface at some point in the form of tar balls that will almost certainly wash up on our beaches for months, possibly years, to come.”

BP PLC, which leased the rig and is taking the lead in the cleanup, said it has activated an extensive oil-spill response, including using remotely operated vehicles to assess the well, and 32 vessels to mop up the spill.

Sarthou said her agency is waiting, watching and hoping for a resolution to a lot of unanswered questions.

“How much contamination has occurred as a result of this event, in terms of oil sunk to the bottom, diesel fuel that has been released, air pollution and the effect of the sinking of this rig,” she said. “There are a lot of unknowns and we won’t know for a while what long-term implications this has.”
http://www.sunherald.com/2010/04/23/v-prin...11-oil-rig.html

Memorial held for rig blast victims
By HOLBROOK MOHR - Associated Press
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JACKSON — Eleven men who died in the April 20 oil-rig explosion were honored Tuesday at a somber memorial service with tributes from country music stars and drilling company executives.

Aaron Dale Burkeen, a 37-year-old man from Philadelphia was one of the men who died. His family said they were moved by the event, attended by hundreds.

“It was truly touching. There will never be complete closure because we don’t have the body to see,” said Burkeen’s uncle, Aaron Bryan, for whom he was named. “I think it helps to see the other families.”

Gallery:Memorial held for rig blast victims
Most attendees left in a steady rain without talking to reporters. Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, organized the memorial, held under tight security at the Jackson Convention Complex. Police on motorcycles and in cruisers patrolled the block. Security guarded entrances.

“This is the one of the most difficult days for many of us here. But for the families of our 11 lost colleagues, this is just another of many difficult days,” Transocean CEO Steven Newman said.

Country music group Diamond Rio performed “I Believe,” “One More Day” and “In God We Trust.”

Singer Trace Adkins spoke to the service by video link, describing how he’d worked on Gulf oil rigs before making it big as a singer.

“It was hard work, it was dangerous work, but nobody expects it to end like this,” Adkins said.

It was impossible to judge the reactions of those in attendance. Reporters weren’t allowed into the memorial but were ushered into a large room where the service was broadcast on closed-circuit television.

Before the memorial began, an image on the screen showed 11 bronze-colored hard hats placed in a semicircle around a white cross. A large picture of the sun setting over calm waters was in the background.

A bell rang 11 times, once for each man lost when a blowout caused the massive explosion and fire that ultimately sank the rig.

Newman and Keelan Adamson, Transocean’s North American Divison director, presented the families with the hard hats.

The closed-circuit feed cut to pictures of the men while the presentation was made, so the exchange was not visible.



Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2010/05/25/220963...l#ixzz0p2B5iw5o