In the spring of 2010, an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, unleashing untold amounts of crude oil into the water’s fragile ecosystem.
At the time, there were numerous pictures of oil-slicked turtles and birds – a reminder of the sheer havoc the incident wrought upon the environment.
Now a new set of pictures has been released showing the slick from above, taken by photographer Daniel Beltrá, who documented the spill from a Cessna floatplane, 3,000ft above the Louisiana coastline.
The April 20th, 2010, explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers, injured 17 more and caused nearly 50,000 barrels of oil per day to spew into the gulf.
The well went unplugged for nearly three months, causing the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
These photos are a grim reminder of the real damage that can be caused by such massive oil spills but also show the beauty that can be seen as man and nature try to repair the damage done.
‘SPILL’ by Daniel Beltrá is published by GOST Books.
Two ships monitor a controlled burn from oil that was spilled from the wellhead. To aid in clean-up efforts, 5,300 vessels of opportunity were hired from around the area
Boats gather near remaining oil platforms near the site of the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, leaving oily wakes as they move through the polluted water. Nearly one third of all U.S. oil production comes from 3,500 such platforms in the Gulf of Mexico
Agent orange: This picture is clearly of the sea but the dramatic lines and swirls are oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon spills at the Gulf Macondo well as it floats on the Gulf of Mexico
The spill sent 210m gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, causing a black tide covering 68,000 square miles of ocean and spreading along 16,000 miles of coastline