Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Blowout preventer failed to activate
What
A bubble of methane gas escaped from the well as it rose it expanded quickly and broke through seals and barriers and then exploded.
When
April 20th 2010 and then it took 87 days to cap. Clean up still in progress.
Deepwater Horizon drilling unit
396 feet long × 256 feet wide
Well diagram
Diagram show blowout preventer
Explosion and Fire
Deepwater Horizon sank April 22nd 2010
Who
BP, Transocean Ltd, and Halliburton Energy Service
Why
Equipment called a blowout preventer was meant to prevent the release of crude oil but failed to activate.
Effects of the Disaster
The oil spill killed 11 people and injured 17 others, and 6 months after the spill more than 8,000 animals were reported dead.