CALEB HOLLOWAY: I
was on board April
the 20th of 2010 whenever the
unfortunate tragedy of the rig
explosion happened.
We had a lot of really good
guys perish that night.
INTERVIEWER 1: That's
Caleb Holloway, an oil rig
worker who survived the
Deepwater Horizon accident.
Arguably one of the worst
man-made catastrophes
in history.
The massive offshore
explosion, caused by a blowout,
destroyed the rig
itself, causing a fire
that burned for 36 hours.
But that wasn't
nearly the end of it,
for the next 87 days oil
leaked into the Gulf leading
to widespread pollution
that's still a problem today.
At 8 PM On April 20th,
2010, the Macondo Well
below Deepwater Horizon
was deemed stable.
The drilling crew was toward
the end of a 21 day hitch,
shortly to return home to shore.
But as night fell the
unthinkable happened.
Explosions tore Horizon apart,
the rig turned into an inferno.
Many jumped overboard
half-coated in oil
as they tried to flee to safety.
CALEB HOLLOWAY:
We did everything
we could to get as many people
off of there as we could
and to try to salvage
what we could on the rig.
Somehow Caleb survived that
day but 11 of his teammates
didn't make it out alive.
Whenever it finally sunk in that
the 11 guys that were missing,
that they were all the
guys from the drill crew,
it was very, very
hard for me to accept.
I was not ready to give up,
I wanted to go back out there
and search some more.
INTERVIEWER 1: The events that
occurred that day haunted Caleb
long after the catastrophe.
CALEB HOLLOWAY: I was
on a downward spiral,
it did not get any
better every day
that I would think about it.
I was a mess for probably
six months to a year,
just didn't even know
what I wanted to do,
where I wanted to
go with my career.
I wanted to go back out to
the rig but I knew mentally I
couldn't.
I missed the rig, I
missed the brotherhood
that we had out there.
INTERVIEWER 1: And Caleb
wasn't able to go back
to life on the rig but he
says that his experience has
prepared him for the
next chapter in life.
He's now a firefighter in his
hometown of Nacogdoches, Texas.
CALEB HOLLOWAY: I think
the Horizon tragedy
kind of prepared me
for some of the stuff
that I'm faced with today.
We have that fight or flight,
you can either run away
or you can run and help.
And I knew I had that
in me to go and help.
It gave me the confidence
to be able to face
the challenges I face today, or
we face in the fire industry.
Because when everybody else is
running away we're running in.
And that's just
something I'm extremely
proud to be able to do
and trying to impact
people's lives by helping.
INTERVIEWER 1: In the wake
of a tragedy like this many
would choose to sit
on the sidelines
and tap out from life.
But instead of running
away from his fears
Caleb chose to run towards them.
As a firefighter he routinely
risks his life to help others.
Since the disaster he made
one courageous decision
after another.
And as a result, these decisions
may come to define him.
CALEB HOLLOWAY: It's
been such a blessing
to be able and overcome
the tragedy that happened
and to be in the
place that I'm at now.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
INTERVIEWER 1: This episode
is made possible by the movie
"Deepwater Horizon" based on the
true story of some of the rig
workers, including Caleb's.
In theaters September 30th.
If you want one more
story, check out
this episode about
women in Afghanistan
and their life behind the burka
INTERVIEWER 2: In the
1960s and early '70s
Afghanistan was often
viewed as more progressive
than neighboring countries
when it came to women's rights.
Back then women were able to
pursue an education, get a job,
and even vote.
But when Islamic fundamentalist
group, the Taliban,
seized control of the
country in the mid '90s,
everything changed.
CALEB HOLLOWAY: Thank
you for watching
and be sure to subscribe
for more videos.
