7. Deepwater Horizon, Mexico
At number 7 on our list of worst construction accidents in history we have the Deepwater Horizon oil spill ( or BP spill) that began on April 10, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico when the oil platform exploded and sank. The accident killed 11 workers and oil continued to leak into the Gulf of Mexico during the next 87 days. The Deepwater Horizon was a drilling rig that was drilling an exploratory well bellow the sea level approximately at 5,100 feet. The oil leak was only discovered on April 22 and it was estimated that the flow rate was 1,000-5,000 barrels per day with the total amount of about 4,9 million barrels. This terrible accident caused a massive response to protect beaches and wetlands and countless investigations to determine the cause of the spill. Apparently, a series of cost-cutting decisions were made which finally led to this sad event.
