Date in year · 2010 · The 2010s

April 20, 2010

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that lasted six months. The year's #1 song was "Tik Tok" by Kesha. Sophia Reid-Gantzert, Tanitoluwa Adewumi, Sophia Reid-Gantzert would arrive in the same year.

Events

1

Births

0

Deaths

1

Year

2010

2010s

Around 2010

The year in brief

2010 (MMX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2010th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 10th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 1st year of the 2010s decade.

Read the full year of 2010 →

What happened

On April 20, 2010

  1. 2010 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that lasted six months.

    Former offshore oil drilling rig

    Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by the BP company. On 20 April 2010, while drilling in the Gulf of Mexico at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 people and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles (64 km) away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the Horizon collapsed, leaving the well gushing at the seabed and becoming the largest marine oil spill in history.

Farewells

Died on April 20, 2010

Dorothy Height American activist (1912–2010)

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 2010

The class of 2010

Others born in 2010

Sophia Reid-Gantzert 2010– Canadian actress and dancer
Tanitoluwa Adewumi 2010– Nigerian-American chess player
Sophia Reid-Gantzert 2010– Canadian actress and dancer
Tanitoluwa Adewumi 2010– Nigerian-American chess player
Sophia Reid-Gantzert 2010– Canadian actress and dancer
Tanitoluwa Adewumi 2010– Nigerian-American chess player

Step through

Nearby

Keep going

More to explore