Front Row View of Gulf Explosion

Louis Bird from Wilmer was on The Ocean Confidence about 15 miles away from the explosion on The Deepwater Horizon.
In photos Bird shares with WKRG News 5, you can see flames much too powerful for smaller boats to overtake.

"There was people jumping off of the rig. There was boats in the water and they were there scooping the people up out of the waters the best they could", says Bird.

Seas have been calm and skies clear making the job easier for search crews still looking for those missing.

"I hope they'll find them. I really do. It's taking them this long. I wonder if they're not still on the rig floors somewhere where the actual explosion happened at. You know because when it happens...there's not much you can do if you're at the wrong place at the wrong time", says Bird.

The area where the explosion happened is Mississippi Canyon. Bird, a 23 year veteran of the sea knows it well. His rig was there just last week. This morning, he couldn't wait to call his wife to let her know he was o.k.

"It makes you really hate not being there at home, but, you gotta work and it's not as dangerous as people really want to think that it is because there's so many safeguards and there's no telling what happened over there that caused that", says Bird.

Bird survived a rig fire last December just before his 50th birthday. He says last night's blast really hit him hard today, because the reality of what could have happened to him sank in.