By Kathy Finn
NEW ORLEANS, March 25 (Reuters) - The officer in charge ofsafety on Transocean's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, destroyedin a BP well accident that caused the worst-ever U.S. offshoreoil spill, said the post-blowout fire was too big to fight andthe evacuation saved lives.
In the fifth week of a trial to apportion blame among BP Plc, Transocean Ltd and other contractors for theMacondo oil well disaster, David Young, the rig's chief mate,said the captain told him to do whatever he needed to do to getthe 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. While BP accepts itsrole in the accident, it 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."
In cross-examination, plaintiffs' attorney Jim Roy asked whyit was Young, rather than rig captain Curt Kuchta, who pushedthe button to sound the general alarm as he left the bridge.
"Isn't the truth, sir, that you were tired of waiting forthe captain or anybody else to sound the general alarm," Royasked, "and for the safety of yourself and the crew you decidedyou're going to hit it?"
Young responded: "No, there was nothing to get tired of, soI wouldn't agree with that."
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.
Transocean is expected to call its final witnesses onTuesday, beginning with Bill Ambrose, Transocean's director ofspecial projects. Other defendants then will begin calling theirwitnesses.
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.