Also called the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Deepwater Horizon oil spill is considered to be the largest marine oil spill in history. It occurred on April 20, 2010 when the Deep Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Louisiana, the U.S. The rig was leased by London-based oil company BP. By the time the leak from the exploratory well was capped 87 days later, more than three million barrels of oil had leaked into the waters while the explosion itself had claimed 11 lives. The disaster has had environmental, health and economic impacts.
An estimated 53,000 barrels were flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every day.
The accident also made extensive damages to the marine environment. According to the Centre for Biological Diversity, the oil spill killed over 82,000 birds, 25,900 marine mammals, 6,000 sea turtles and tens of thousands of fish, among others.
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