Last week I shot portraits of Andrea Fleytas who was the only female employee for Transocean on the rig Deepwater Horizon which sank in the Gulf on April 22 causing the largest oil spill in the history of oil exploration. She was one of the last people off of the rig as her crew was responsible for trying to maintain the rig. The remaining life boats had caught fire and the raft she was trying to get on suddenly dislodged. So she actually had to jump off of the platform into the fuel soaked water and swim out from under the rig until she was rescued. Her story is a harrowing tale of courage and maturity under extreme conditions. To read the story, visit: There was ‘Nobody in Charge’
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harley warner
May 31st, 2010, 11:00 pm #
Andrea’s selfless, egoless heroics are the only redeeming thing I’ve read about this disaster. Too bad she wasn’t(isn’t) the CEO of BP.
Bill G.
June 1st, 2010, 10:33 pm #
Andrea’s initiative in sending out the Mayday call is commendable. Her subsequent courage under extremely difficult conditions is nothing less than extraordinary. I hope that when matters are sorted out, her management at Transocean recognizes her for her courage, ability, initiative, and valor under harrowing circumstances. I also hope that she can come to terms with the awful experience she endured, and goes on to enjoy a long and full life.
Colette Nelson
June 2nd, 2010, 8:33 am #
Andrea is my hero. She did the right thing despite enormous stresses and thought of the welfare of others over herself. The world would be a better place if we all acted in kind.
JERRY BALCOLM
June 6th, 2010, 6:25 pm #
Such tragic events to be involved in at a young age…here’s someone for future generations to look up to. There should be several people on a rig with the guts and/or authority to overrule managers who are in denial. Perhaps in this day of technology, those individuals should wear an activator on their person.
C. Yvonne Almeida
June 7th, 2010, 4:18 pm #
I am so proud of you and so thankful to God you survived this horrible disaster. Your actions have proven that you an intelligent, responsible and quick-thinking individual.
Timothy Hyatt
June 10th, 2010, 10:57 am #
I echo every one of the prior thoughts and opinions. She is a modern heroine and deserves the highest recognition for her courage and composure under such catastrophic and chaotic conditions. I hope she is receiving and feeling the love and support of millions. Is a petition needed for her and the other survivors to earn a medal of honor from the White House?
T. Hankins
July 8th, 2010, 7:14 am #
While I was reading Mike Williams story, I noticed no word of what happened to you and have been trying to google information on whether or not you survived. I am very glad you did! What you did was very commendable. God Bless you! I am sure you saved many lives with your announcement. I do hope you earn a medal of honor from the White House.
John Stephens
October 7th, 2010, 1:02 pm #
Fleytas said she was trained to sound a general alarm any time more than one indicator light flashed, but didn’t do so immediately in this case because she had never been trained to deal with such an overwhelming number of warnings.
Steve
October 7th, 2010, 1:51 pm #
‘She said she eventually “went over and hit the alarms” after the first or two large explosions.’
As they say, timing is everything. FAILBOAT.
Steve B.
October 7th, 2010, 2:05 pm #
Quick thinking?
‘She said she eventually “went over and hit the alarms” after the first or two large explosions.’
FAILBOAT.
Judy Woodruff
May 1st, 2011, 3:18 pm #
Thank you so much for these beautiful pictures of an amazing young woman!! I just finished the extremely flawed ” Blow Out”. Was I supposed to feel some sort of connection to men who name their daughters ” Aryan” and love Rush Limbaugh. ( and – small point and expecting too much of young men but – pay for the sexual services of poor young Asian woman without any feelings of what these girls lives are like). I didn’t and it made the book less of a good read. But – still, they suffered horribly and no one deserves that. But when I got to Andrea call for mayday and being verbally slapped by Captain Chuck, I was captivated. Her actions thereafter – so heroic. Yet the authors didn’t feel she was worthy of a follow up, as his red neck boys were? Bah humbug to him and many wonderful wishes to you Andrea. You are amazing and I hope you have found some peace.