There is so much justifiable outrage over the widespread destruction that is and will be caused by the BP/Transocean/Halliburton/Deepwater-Horizon disaster that it has nearly faded into obscurity that eleven men died on the first day of this man-made tragedy.
Many more will lose their livelihoods, and possibly more human lives will be lost before all is said and done, but these men have already lost their lives and it is a shame that there has not been outrage on a national level for this loss of life, as their was when 30 men lost their lives in Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion.
I have not seen a single memorial on TV to these oil workers. If anyone has done that, kudos to them.
This list is excerpted from the Times of London. TimesOnline, April 30th, 2010. The Times article has more detail about the details of these men's lives, including family and other detail. I've condensed the article, but I encourage everyone to read it to get a sense of the lives that were lost at the beginning of this disaster. They probably won't be the last deaths caused by this man-made mess, but they were the first.
The missing and presumed dead:
Dale Burkeen, 37
Donald Clark, 49, Newellton, Louisiana
Roy Wyatt Kemp, 27
Jason Anderson, Bay City, Texas.
Stephen Curtis, Georgetown, Louisiana.
Gordon Jones, 28, Louisiana.
Karl Kleppinger, 38, Natchez, Mississippi
Blair Manuel, 56, Gonzales, Louisiana
Dewey Revette, 48, State Line, Mississippi
Shane Roshto, 22, Franklin County, Mississippi
Adam Weise, 24, Yorktown, Texas
May they rest in peace and may their families find comfort in their memories of these men.
UPDATE: Thanks to bookwoman for THIS LINK to another tribute to these men.
UPDATE II: Thanks to Catte Nappe for searching for and posting all the obituaries.
UPDATE III: As guest host on the Ed Schultz show, Lawrence O'Donnell just did a touching tribute to the 11 fallen with pictures and details of their lives and families.
Link to Lawrence O'Donnell's tribute to the fallen.
Thanks to Thom Hartmann for pointing this out on his show today. I haven't seen this list from any U.S. publications. I've searched DK for this information and haven't been able to find it. If another diary has covered it, please let me know.