MOBILE, Ala. (CN) - Three friends who planned to spend "36 hours of nothing but fishing" in the Gulf of Mexico say they unwittingly became first responders to a "chaotic scene of enormous proportion," when they came upon the burning Deepwater Horizon. They found survivors of the oil rig explosion still in the water, "people screaming and crying out" and "one horribly burned survivor pleading for help." They spent hours looking for bodies, and handed out all their supplies, and still suffer "severe emotional distress," but neither BP nor Transocean ever offered them any thanks - or even responded to their emailed offers of the videos and still photos they took of the unfolding disaster.
Bradley Shivers, Mark Mead and Scott Russell say they set out on "their first tuna fishing trip of the year" on Tuesday, April 20, aboard Shivers' 31-foot boat, the Ramblin' Wreck. "Around 9:45 [p.m.], a distant light caught Bradley's attention. He reached for binoculars and to his surprise he realized he was looking at what appeared to be a rig on fire," the men say in their federal complaint.
They heard a woman's voice coming over channel 16 on their VHF radio: "'Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is the Deepwater Horizon. ... We are on fire. There has been an explosion, and we are abandoning the rig.'"
"The plaintiffs then heard and felt a concussive sonic boom explosion. The plaintiffs responded to the Mayday call. It was nighttime, the plaintiffs were forced to run the vessel on radar." They "pulled out life jackets, pillows, and other supplies that might be used.
The men say only one other boat was there when they arrived, the Demon B. Bankston, a supply boat. "At this time, and for a long time thereafter, this supply boat and the Ramblin' Wreck were the only two vessels at the incident," according to the complaint.
"When the plaintiffs arrived at the Deepwater Horizon, they found a chaotic scene of enormous proportion. There was no apparent organization, and it was difficult to determine who was in charge. There was confusion.
"The plaintiffs saw the bodies of several survivors lying onboard. Survivors who obviously needed medical attention. There were also 5-8 people still in the water at the time they arrived on the scene. They also recall seeing four or so lifeboats, rescue boats, and people screaming and crying out for help. Plaintiff Scott particularly remembers one horribly burned survivor pleading for help.
"The plaintiffs were asked to search around the rig for missing persons. Bradley asked how many, and the man responded that around 10 to 15 people were missing. It was unclear who was accounted for and who was not. There was debris in the water.
"On at least three occasions, one or more of the plaintiffs saw something floating in the water that could have been a body. Each time they suspected seeing a body, they would maneuver closer to the rig to get a better look. Each time it turned out to be debris.
"At some point, the Ramblin' Wreck was requested to retrieve an industrial medical kit from a nearby supply boat that could not travel as quickly as Bradley's vessel.