Rigzone has ongoing coverage by industry professionals including a first-hand account of what happened by a worker on the rig. Among other things, he says the well was notorious for blowing back large amounts of gas, and that’s precisely what triggered the explosion.
I’ve worked on oil rigs. In the best of times, they are dangerous. Was there negligence? We don’t know yet. But I do know that drilling companies really really don’t want catastrophes like this to happen and genuinely work hard to prevent them. Seriously.
The anonymous worker said the eleven workers who were killed were friends and probably died instantly.