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By Kathy Finn
NEW ORLEANS, March 25 (Reuters) - The Transocean Ltd officerin charge of safety on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig,destroyed in a BP well accident that caused the worst U.S.offshore oil spill, said the post-blowout fire was too big tofight and that evacuation saved lives.
In the fifth week of a trial to apportion blame among BP Plc, rig owner Transocean and other contractors forthe Macondo oil well disaster, David Young, the rig's chiefmate, said the captain told him to do whatever he needed to doto get the fire on April 20, 2010 under control.
"I pulled him outside and showed him the size of the fire wewere dealing with and ... basically told him we couldn't fightthat fire," Young said on Monday in a New Orleans federal courtbefore U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.
Young then helped load injured and other crew into lifeboatsand rafts before jumping into a raft himself, he said. Later, heand others in his raft were pulled onto one of the lifeboats.
"Do you believe the Deepwater Horizon's emergency trainingsaved lives that night?" Transocean attorney Luis Li asked.
"I do, because we got 115 people off," Young replied.
Eleven workers died as a result of the blowout and fire, andmore than 4 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf from thedamaged well. BP and its contractors are being sued by the U.S.Justice Department along with the Gulf states, companies andindividuals affected.
Transocean's chief executive testified last week that hisworkers made mistakes that day, but were not responsible foroverall safety at the site. BP accepts its rolein the accident, but believes Transocean and well-cementingprovider Halliburton Co share the blame.
Young, who worked on the Deepwater Horizon for 3-1/2 years,oversaw equipment maintenance and all "marine aspects" of therig, including firefighting and lifesaving equipment, while thecaptain had overall responsibility for rig safety. Young saidthe first priority of all the rig managers was "for everybody togo home safely, back to their families."
Transocean has pleaded guilty to federal charges connectedwith Clean Water Act violations and agreed to pay $1.4 billionin criminal and civil fines and penalties.
In the civil case before Barbier, the companies must showany mistakes do not meet the legal definition of grossnegligence required for the highest amount of damages. BP hasalready spent or committed $37 billion for cleanup, restoration,payouts, settlements and fines.
The case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "DeepwaterHorizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, No.10-md-02179, in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District ofLouisiana.
