EXCLUSIVE: BP Fire Video from Firefighting Boat
One of the firefighting boats recorded everything that happened in the hours after the fire started. The video was given exclusively to TODAY'S TMJ4 HD from someone on the boat. He believes BP could have done more to stop the fire and save lives. And he believes the video proves him right.
Merchant Officer Paul Grogan was on the boat. He told TODAY'S TMJ4 HD a BP representative told he and his crew to stop putting water on the burning rig.
"There was a lot of questioning on the boat: what are they asking us to do, and why are they telling us not to put water on a fire?" Grogan said.
Despite their questions, Grogan said the crew obeyed their orders.
"We would like to be relieved if you guys don't have anything further for us," you can hear someone say in the video.
"The structure we work in, it's do as you're told," Grogan said.
Grogan now believes if they had continued fighting the fire, there is a chance lives could have been saved.
"There could have been someone on that rig still alive that could not be heard, that could not be seen," he said.
Grogan also has a theory as to why he believes the fire was allowed to burn.
"They know insurance isn't going to pay for half a rig burn," he said.
And while there is no proof anyone was still alive on the rig at the time his crew left, Grogan believes they should have been allowed to put out the fire.
'We gotta ask ourselves, eleven people are unaccounted for. Could one or two of those have been trapped on the rig?"
We did talk to a BP representative about the video and why the boats were told to stop fighting the fire. That representative told TODAY'S TMJ4 HD the decision would have had to have been made by a Transocean employee.
Transocean is the company BP leased the rig from. A Transocean spokesperson was not available Monday night. TODAY'S TMJ4 HD was told a spokesperson would be back in the office on Tuesday morning.

















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