Witness: Coast Guard out of rig blast loop

METAIRIE, La., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- An oil industry manager told a government hearing in Metairie, La., Tuesday he had trouble reaching the U.S. Coast Guard after the BP oil rig explosion.

The hearing is being held by the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The marine board will write a report on recommendations for improved safety and regulations, The Washington Post said.

The hearing was full of lawyers for BP, Transocean (which owned the rig), Halliburton, Cameron, Anadarko, Weatherford, Dril-Quip, M-I Swaco and Sperry Sun, and for some survivors of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Post said.

The April 20 explosion killed 11 rig workers and caused an ocean floor leak in the Gulf of Mexico that spewed millions of barrels of oil until it was plugged July 15.

A central issue for the hearing this week has been who was in charge of the first emergency response to the explosion and fire, which witnesses have described a chaotic situation and misinformation.

A Transocean manager, Robert McKechnie, testified he and his colleagues had trouble reaching anyone at the Coast Guard in the hours after the explosion, the Post reported. McKechnie said he and his colleagues were concerned water cannons pointed at the rig were making it unstable.

"There didn't seem to be anybody that I could identify who was controlling the activity of those boats," McKechnie said. "We tried to contact the Coast Guard. ... We were informed that the Coast Guard were not controlling the fire."

Asked at the hearing who had the "ultimate decision-making" authority for the initial response, the Post reported, McKechnie said, "I don't know."