Lake Pener Incident: How a Hole in the Bottom Sucked in a Drilling Rig, 11 Barges and an Island

Man-made disasters rarely occur without human casualties, because they occur precisely because of human error. But the story that happened on Lake Peigneur in Louisiana, USA, was an exception. As a result of the incident, companies and local residents lost property worth tens of millions of dollars. However, fortunately, no one died.

Lake Peigneur is an unremarkable body of water located near the town of New Iberia in Louisiana. Its water surface stretched for 5 square kilometers, and the depth reached only 3-4 meters. The lake was a favorite place for recreation for residents of the town and surrounding farms. It was ideal for swimming and fishing. This continued until November 1980. It was then that a man-made disaster completely changed the appearance of the lake.

On November 21, Wilson Brothers Corporation was drilling on the lake. The goal was to explore new oil fields for the Texas Corporation. The work day began as usual, but about an hour later the drill got stuck at a depth of 375 meters. Immediately after that, the drilling rig began to list with a terrible grinding noise. The workers immediately abandoned the platform.

As soon as the oil workers reached the shore, the huge drilling platform disappeared under the water. Considering that the depth of the lake at the drilling site was only three meters, this seemed incredible. But the surprises did not end there. The surface of the reservoir began to rapidly turn into a giant whirlpool. In just a few hours, it grew to a funnel 55 meters in diameter.

The whirlpool sucked everything in like a bathtub drain. Eleven barges, two more drilling rigs working on Lake Pener, a diesel tug and a floating dock disappeared into it. Then something completely unbelievable happened - an impressive artificial island on which a botanical garden was located disappeared into the funnel without a trace.

By the time almost all the water had gone underground and the lake had turned into a swamp, the cause of the disaster had become obvious. There was a salt mine under the reservoir, which the drillers, for unknown reasons, did not know about. The drill made a hole 35 centimeters in diameter in the vault of the underground tunnel, and a powerful stream of water gushed through it.

The underground voids under the lake - galleries 30 meters wide and 24 meters high - quickly began to fill with water. The hole was washed away and became wider with each passing minute. At the time of the disaster, there were 55 people in the mine. Some of them were working at a depth of 400 meters. Seeing the water, the miners rushed to the lifts and managed to get out.

All the water from the lake, more than 13 million cubic meters, went underground. At the site of the mine shaft, a water geyser shot up 120 meters into the sky. The elevators that lifted the workers out of the mine were swallowed up by the water a few seconds after the last people left them. As a result, this day turned out to be incredibly happy for everyone who was both on the lake and under it. Even the only fisherman who was there at that moment managed to safely reach the shore.

A few days later, Lake Peigneur filled up again, but this time with salt water. The reservoir is connected by the man-made Delcambre Canal to the Gulf of Mexico, which is 20 kilometers to the south. It was through this canal that seawater rushed into the empty basin. As it filled up, the lake began to “return” what it had absorbed. Numerous pieces of debris rose to the surface, and, surprisingly, 9 of the 11 sunken barges.

But the lake was transformed beyond recognition. The water, having washed away the mine, increased the depth of the reservoir by 100 times - up to 396 meters. After the lake became salty, its ecosystem completely changed. Over time, marine species of animals and plants began to develop new spaces for themselves. The damage from the disaster was colossal, and the legal proceedings on this case lasted for several years.

The court found both Wilson Brothers Corporation and its client, Texaco, guilty. They were ordered to pay $32 million to the owners of the salt mine, and another $13 million to the owners of the barges, the island, and local residents. As for the environmental damage, it was never possible to assess it.

The Lake Peigneur disaster is a rare case where no people were harmed due to an error, but the environment and economy suffered enormous damage. Do you think this tragedy could have been prevented? And which man-made disasters strike you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments!