Gulf Oil Spill Illness: Four Hospitalized After Getting Sick, 125 Cleanup Boats Recalled

COVINGTON, La. — The U.S. Coast Guard has pulled commercial fishing boats from oil cleanup efforts in Breton Sound off the Louisiana coast after several people became ill.

The Coast Guard says crew members on three vessels reported nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains Wednesday afternoon. Four people were hospitalized, including one who was flown to a hospital.

The Coast Guard told all 125 commercial vessels that were helping clean up spilled oil to return to shore. Medical workers evaluated the crew members as a precaution.

Breton Sound is about 30 miles southeast of New Orleans.

Comments

[phalanx]

03:44 PM on 05/28/2010

Here's an interesting interview with Merle Savage, who was the general foreman in charge of the Exxon-Valdez spill cleanup. She outlines how Exxon did not inform cleanup volunteers about the risks they faced handling hazardous material, and how BP is repeating the same deadly mistake:

http://www.themarknews.com/articles/1593-the-risks-of-cleaning-up-after-bp

[rougebaisers]

05:26 AM on 05/28/2010

A message to the president on this day of his second visit to this Disaster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auIhx850Lxc

[mudshark12]

04:23 PM on 05/27/2010

I was expecting this. BP (and other oil companies) are so well insulated by multiple layers of lawyers and all of their Multi-Billions that they don't even care about citizens rights, the environment, etc. etc. due to their arrogance. I hope they lose their favorite child / fair-haired boy status over this debacle and the politicians start caring about us rather than them.

[barnybilt]

03:24 PM on 05/27/2010

GEE! A couple people got icky; so were not going to clean up any more oil?

Had they skimmed that oil up with large ships well before it got to where these little boats were out there trying to do it, just maybe people wouldn't be getting sick.

This will only become even more apparent as time goes on that we have had a bunch of fools handling this whole situation.

Even down to the plugging of the well, it has been a comedy of errors. Those errors blamed on the depth and hords of other things. When the truth is that the engineers look for fantasic ideas to fix things, when something as simple as crushing the pipe would have slowed the amount of oil spilled.

[Dee Cortex]

12:43 AM on 05/28/2010

TELL THEM TO START DRILLING A RELIEF WELL NOW!

[Roxanna]

02:26 PM on 05/27/2010

The truth is BP won't let workers wear respiratory mask as an extra precaution because that implies" liability.".. and BP cares more about their self-interest,cutting cost, and cutting their possible liabilities by making things look good on the outside, rather than really taking caring of the people and the environment. These people are criminals and they are running the show. They do have a past record that is not good.

[ultrabop]

02:22 PM on 05/27/2010

Somebody get Dick Chaney a bowl of it.

[rollingrock]

01:54 PM on 05/27/2010

EPA said the air is safe to breathe because BP told them so, so those workers must be faking it.

[kingbuzz]

01:30 PM on 05/27/2010

werallsophukt.

[LOL123]

01:14 PM on 05/27/2010

Ocean drilling has been going deeper and deeper which can't have a good ending. At least on land we can get to it and the life source WATER is affected. We can not live without water period. The negligence on the part of oil companies, regulators, product assembly all have dirty hands (that I bet they wouldn't wash in the waters they spoiled). This isn't a joke or wishful thinking that will go away. The gas pipeline going underwater from Russia to Germany is another disaster waiting to happen (which hasn't really even gotten off the ground). Just because we don't see it doesn't mean it can't harm us. The opposite is true.

[TruelyFedUp]

01:10 PM on 05/27/2010

Spillness - Oil Spill illness

Voilcano - Volcano of oil spilling into the Gulf.

New nomenclature from George Ure's website www.urbansurvival.com

[jedime]

12:44 PM on 05/27/2010

this makes me so sad, but no- i'm not surprised it's happening like this.... how about putting the executives of BP out there instead of the poor folks who are getting sick and who will be suffering from the longterm effects for years to come??

[TruelyFedUp]

01:11 PM on 05/27/2010

How about just tying ropes to their feet and dragging them through the slicks till all the oil has been picked up?

[Sean Whelan]

12:26 PM on 05/27/2010

Well gosh, who would have expected this?

[Aerows]

12:33 PM on 05/27/2010

You cannot believe the anger I feel when I saw this story. I live here, and our customers are in the fishing and shrimping business, at least many of them are. Now, because of a few complaints, they are cutting people off who have NO OTHER alternative since fishing/shrimping is pretty much over.

Retaliation.

[Aerows]

12:08 PM on 05/27/2010

Must be a coincidence between this story, and oil spill cleanup worker's wives coming forward. Come forward, and we'll cut you off from being able to work the spill (despite the fact that it's the only job you can get now since we destroyed your livelihood of fishing, oyster trawling and shrimping).

They should be forced to pay the people they halted from the cleanup, because that way, we will know it wasn't done in retaliation. This was absolutely retaliation.

[piobaireachd]

04:13 PM on 05/27/2010

@aerows

first, my heart goes out to you all there, and thanks for posting the truth from on the ground

if the government has been in charge from the start, we have a problem, clearly

second, this is only slightly off-topic, since we know the dispersant is making the clean-up even more toxic, I have been looking a little more closely at the C-130's

they come out of youngstown-warren air reserve station, 910th air wing, col fritz linsenmeyer commander

so what's the story? to whom does the air reserve answer? bp or the usa?

becos if EPA (usa) says no toxic dispersant - why were those planes flying and spraying it?

will keep checking

all the best to you

stay safe

[Aerows]

08:33 PM on 05/27/2010

I'll be candid with you, I don't know who is answering to who anymore in this disaster. I know that people on both sides of the aisle are quick to point fingers but none of them recognize just how ugly this has gotten. Speaking for myself, and myself alone, I'm scared. The last thing that we need is a hurricane blowing this inland, because it will turn into an unprecedented public health hazard for the millions of residents who own homes and businesses here.

[tjconkster]

11:51 AM on 05/27/2010

If you think BP cares for it's workers, read this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-25/shocking-bp-memo-and-the-oil-spill-in-the-gulf/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR1

[had-enough]

12:17 PM on 05/27/2010

BP cares about one thing$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and that is it!

[kingbuzz]

11:50 AM on 05/27/2010

the real slick is eight miles from land.

[KarlaElisa]

12:26 PM on 05/27/2010

The real slick? Where can I get more info on this as I assume you're talking about something much larger than we've been shown.

[SirRealDeal]

12:55 PM on 05/27/2010

Go to Skytruth

http://www.skytruth.org/

It might not be what kingbuzz is talking about, but they have satellite pictures of the spill.

[kingbuzz]

01:20 PM on 05/27/2010

talked to my brother on the front lines this morning. we have not seen anything yet.