Of the 126 employees aboard the Deepwater Horizon, a deep-water drilling rig that exploded, how many were presumed killed (some bodies never found)?

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon, a deep-water off shore oil rig, exploded due to a flawed oil well plan that did not have enough cement for the casing. Also, a blowout preventer valve failed and is listed as a secondary cause. The rescue of the 126 workers occurred over the following two days, until the Deepwater Horizon sank. In all, 11 workers were presumed dead, as some bodies were never recovered before the rig sank.

The event caused the largest oil spillage in US waters and involved several large corporations, including Transocean, BP, and Halliburton. In all, the US courts ordered compensations to be paid by the three companies totaling between 5-20 billion US dollars, with BP responsible for about two-thirds, Transocean for a third, and Haliburton less than 10%. BP, specifically two supervisors aboard the rig, was also charged with criminal charges, though these were officially dropped in 2015. No one ever went to prison despite the severe violations found by the investigation teams.

Peter Berg directed the film “Deepwater Horizon”, starring Mark Wahlberg that was released in 2016.