![]() ![]() In a third significant disclosure, Williams also revealed that a computer system used to monitor the drill shack was constantly freezing up, and on one occasion even produced wrong information. Matter of fact, the entire fleet runs them in bypass." Hay responded: "Damn thing been in bypass for five years. When he saw that the system had been bypassed, Williams protested to a Transocean supervisor, Mark Hay, who dismissed his concerns. He also revealed that a crucial safety device, designed to shut down the drill shack in the case of dangerous gas levels being detected, had been disabled, or bypassed as it is called. Williams' testimony will raise questions about whether lives could have been saved had the alarms been properly set and the disaster mitigated. When he asked why, he said he was told that the view from even the most senior Transocean official on the rig had been that "they did not want people woken up at three o'clock in the morning due to false alarms". Williams said he discovered that the physical alarm system had been disabled a full year before the disaster. Of the 126 crew on board the rig on 20 April, seven worked for BP and 79 for Transocean. It switches the spotlight of blame away from BP and towards the subcontractor which took the decisions. The evidence of deliberate dilution of the rig's safety mechanisms is likely to have wide ramifications for BP and Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling company. Sensors monitoring conditions on the rig and in the Macondo oil well beneath it were still working, but the computer had been instructed not to trigger any alarms in case of adverse readings.īoth visual and sound alarms should have gone off in the case of sensors detecting fire or dangerous levels of combustible or toxic gases. Williams told the hearing today that no alarms went off on the day of the explosion because they had been "inhibited". Syrians in both government-held territory and an opposition-held enclave in the country's northwest suffer from rampant poverty and crippled infrastructure.Īssociated Press writer Jill Lawless contributed to this report from London.Mike Williams, who was in charge of maintaining the rig's electronic systems, was giving evidence to the federal panel in New Orleans that is investigating the cause of the disaster on 20 April, which killed 11 people. ![]() Syria's uprising which turned into a full-blown civil war, now in its 13th year, has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of its prewar population of 23 million. A Syrian parliamentarian told the AP last month that Syria has been used as a transit state for Captagon and other drugs, and accused opposition groups of running the industry.Īfter Syria restored relations with many of its neighbouring countries and returned to the Arab fold, cracking down on drug smuggling has been a key issue in regional talks. The Syrian government denies any involvement in the production of Captagon. The United Kingdom, United States, and European Union have sanctioned a handful of drug kingpins and close associates of Assad for their involvement in the trade. While experts say it has been a way to generate revenue for the country's crippled economy and sanctioned leadership, it has scourged neighbouring Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as well as other Gulf countries.Ĭaptagon has been used both recreationally and by people with physically demanding jobs to keep them alert as well as fighters on the battlefield. The illicit drug industry, most notably the addictive Captagon amphetamine pills, has blossomed in war-torn Syria in recent years. "We will continue to provide impartial news and information to our audiences across the Arabic-speaking world". "We speak to people across the political spectrum to establish the facts," the BBC said in a statement emailed to the Associated Press, adding that the broadcaster provides "impartial independent journalism. The Syrian Information Ministry in a statement late Saturday said the decision was made after" warning the channel more than once that it has broadcasted its misleading reports relying on statements and testimonies from terrorist entities and those hostile to Syria".ĭamascus revoked the licenses of both the British broadcaster's radio and television correspondents in Syria, as well as their videographer. The announcement came days after BBC Arabic released an investigative documentary about the illicit drug trade in Syria, where they highlighted links between the estimated multi-billion dollar industry and the Syrian army as well as members of President Bashar Assad's family. Syria's Information Ministry has cancelled the BBC's media accreditation, accusing the British public broadcaster of biased and fake news in its coverage of the war-torn country. ![]()
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