Oil Spill : Relatives Fear The Dead Oil Rig Workers Are Forgotten

While the world remains fixated on the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, L.D. Manuel says people are forgetting an important fact: 11 men, including his son, died when the oil rig blew up.
I'm following the coverage, but I don't know that I like what I'm seeing. Everyone talks about the birds and the damage to the gulf and everything, but they never talk about the guys that got hurt or died, says Manuel, who lost his son Blair in the explosion."That really bothers me."
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded just over a month ago, on April 20, and relatives of the 11 men who was killed said that it's understandable that the news media and the public are focused on environmental concerns, goverment regulations, politics , the future of offshore drilling. But they fear that 11 victims - their husbands, sons, grandsons, brothers - have been forgotten.
" I can see that, definitely, the oil spill is everyone's first priority now.It's such an environmental problem, I understand that," said Nelda Winslette, whose grandson was killed in the blast. "But those 11 men was trying to prevent the spill. Nothing ever gets mentioned about those men, and who they were."A memorial service on May 1 was held for the 24-year-old Weise (picture above) at the Lutheran church in Yorktown, Texas, his hometown. Relatives said it seemed the whole town came to pay their respects. "The church was filled to capacity in the balcony. That was really something , and it showed a special young man he was. It was unfortunate he only had 24 years," Weise's sister , Judy Henze said. "Adam Weise was a fisherman, hunter, he was a prankster. He was the kindest hearted young man," Winslette said."He would drop whatever he was doing to help anyone else. Winslette said Weise started working in the oil industry soon after graduting high school, working on land rigs. Then he got a job with the Swiss drilling company Trasocean, and began working offshore, she said.Money was naturally the reason he went there. The money was better than on land rigs, she said.
Another memorial was held Saturday in Bay City,Texas, the hometown of another man who was killed, Jason Anderson, a father of two (2). Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon is flying relatives to Jackson, Mississippi, for another memorial on Tuesday, Winslette said.
Others lost in the accident included four Mississippians: Aaron dale Burkeen, 37, Karl Kleppinger, 38, Shane Roshto,22 and Dewey Revette, 48.
Four other Louisianians were killed:Gordon Lewis Jones, 28, Donald Clark,49, Stephen Curtis, 49, and Roy Kemp. 27.
Manual's son Blair was a native of Eunice,Louisiana. He grew up on a rice farm, whatever needed to be done he was there, willing and able. Blair Manuel, 56, attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he studied petroleum engineering, his father said, he worked on offshore rigs for more than a decade. "Blair and his fiance, Melinda Becnel planned to marry in July,their honeymoon, the wedding, everything else," his father said. Their honeymoon was planned for New Orleans. L.D. Manual said he spoke with his son about a week before the explosion.
Manual summed the aftermath of the blast this way : "It's unreal. The lost of a child is very, very sorrowful.
henze said she hoped the public remembers that the disaster in the gulf had more than environmental consequences. "When I hear anyone talk about it, they're always talking about the environmental," she said. "But this is also a human tragedy.
My spin on this awful tragedy : It was an unfortunate accident and I truly hope the public don't forget the ii lives that was lost. The families have our prayers.