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Originally Posted by Gerald
I worked for Texaco in Louisiana back when this happened. Later in my working career I worked with 2 men that were working at that mine at the time of the disaster.
I recall two of the events as being a little different.
1) The mine "cave in" came during shift change and there was nobody in the mine when it started filling up. The video said that everyone got out safely. The mine elevator can only bring up a few people at a time, so getting a whole crew up would have taken some time.
I had the experience of taking a tour with the mine Supervisor of the Cote Blanche salt mine [just east of Cypremort Point]. I think we went down about 900 feet and drove around to see the operation. The deeper you go, the hotter it gets. They said they could only go down a few hundred feet more, before it would get too hot to work. This would take many year of mine to get to that point. Where I worked, we got barge loads of salt from them about once a week.
2) There was a dispute as to who was at fault. The video said that Texaco made a mistake in determining where to drill. Surprise Surprise.....Texaco clamed that they drilled in the correct spot and that the mine shaft was not located where maps showed it to be.
Law suits were filled but before it was settled in court.... Texaco decided it would be cheaper to settle but not admit to any fault.
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There defiantly people in the mine when this occurred my entire family worked at the mine with the exception of my dad, but all three of his brothers and my grandfather worked there,all my uncles were part of the mine rescue team and one of my uncles was the last one out of the mines it was his job to make sure everyone had gotten out and as he was coming up the shaft on the elevator the water was three steps behind him trying to make it two. He told that story often.