The Lake Peigneur Giant Sinkhole Disaster 1980

The in-depth story of the Lake Peigneur Drilling Accident: When The Earth Swallowed a Lake.
November 20, 1980, is a new day at Lake Peigneur in Louisiana. Some 9 miles north of the Vermilion Bay in the Gulf of Mexico, a charming, calm lake is a popular resort for fishermen and nature lovers..

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We reveal the world's darkest and greatest disasters all based on true stories.
This disaster documentary is inspired by the fantastic "Fascinating Horror".

[Peekeon]

I am absolutely stunned that none of the miners were killed. It seemed like everything about this disaster was working against them, it really is a testament to how important it is to train employees on what to do during an emergency.

[heliosdelsol]

It is so incredible that no one died. Had that electrician not gone and checked that noise when he did, all 55 miners could have easily perished.

[joankarr]

My husband Michael Arceneaux worked in the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine under Lake Peignor. He was working in the salt mine the day the dome of the mine was punctured by the drill bit from the barge above. He was the first to notice the large 55 gallon diesel drums floating in the water inside the mine. He immediately called his supervisor Earl Serraille to report it. His supervisor then asked Michael to call Pierre at the top of the mine. His quick response helped to save all the lives of the workers in the mine that day.
He was interviewed for another documentary in 2010. Some of that interview was used in the resulting documentary that his friends in Louisiana have told him they have seen, although we have not.

[mrknt]

That electrician had that amazing intuition to alert all 55 miners, and that one miner as well, who went to get the other miners who weren't able to catch the signal.

Its evidently significant how good training weilds benefits.

[ClementinesmWTF]

This story is always one of my favorites just because no people lost their lives directly from this. It amazes and elates me just how well the safety precautions for everyone worked out (plus a few close encounters with good timing). It ended up being the most insane ever disaster and everyone handled it perfectly.

[charlesjones]

I was a Geology graduate student at University of Southwestern Louisiana when this happened. I had given tours in the mine the month before when the Gulf Coast Geologic Society held their yearly conference in nearby Lafayette, Lousiana. Texaco had helped me by providing data from another area for my grafuate thesis and I talked with the Geologist that was in charge of the disaster well. What happened is this: Diamond owned the mineral rites for the lake since the 1930's. Texaco contracted to pay Diamond royalties for oil produced based on 1930s rates. By 1980 this was peanuts and Diamond was incensed that Texaco wouldn't consider negotiating higher royalties based on 1970-1980s rates. When Texaco contacted Diamond to check on the latest extents of their mine shafts, Diamond ignored them and never responded. Texaco said "well it must not be a factor since Diamond didn't feel the need to contact them." They picked where they wanted to drill, and as they say, the rest is history!

[rationalbacon]

The smartest person involved in this event was the genius who "lost" those documents in the sink-hole. Pure Machiavellian brilliance 👌

[moustachepanda]

It's amazing that no one died in this incident. Kind of a relief in comparison to most of the other disasters you've covered.

[badpiggies]

Can we all just appreciate how all the miners were able to survive, making their way up the slow elevator even as a lake was falling on them

[IrenePrimeaux]

Randy LaSalle died a few years ago. I knew him well and still miss his energy and "Here I am; send me!" attitude. Absolutely lovely person.

[greghayes]

As a Safety officer for the gas network in Queensland Australia, it shocks me at times how contractors play against the odds and run the risk of having similar accidents. History should be highly valued, not ignored.

[TheBuckStopsHere]

It's ludicrous to call this a "natural disaster." It was human error, made while performing a human activity, above a mine dug by human hands.

[GregPourciau]

It's amazing how twisted and wrong this story has gotten, I was a 20 year old Electrician, June Gaddison was my boss, smoking in the mine was prohibited and he had walked out of area (1000')where our storage and lockers where to smoke a cigarette and he did hear fuel barrels banging around and shined his headlamp down the room (crosscut is another way to say it) and saw water pouring over a salt barricade across room to prevent people going into old parts of the mine and he came running back to our shop and hollering, he did blink or switch off and on main power to mine below, Earl the footman(last name escapes me Brave man he received an award) on our shift jumped on his tractor and went down to make sure word got to them, some ran to shaft and to mechanic shop to warn them and to call cage down, they had trouble get the hoist operator because at that time he was talking to drilling company who had called to tell them to evacuate us from the mine, we started using backup call buzzer which buzzes in hoist control room by the time the cage got down we could see water coming down the room and wiping out the main telephone backboard, I was shoved onto cage and 11 or 12 of us got out, the miners already down in the 1300' level (we only had just started ramps down to 1500') they couldn't call on phones so they traveled up the ramps with whatever could move with 2 front end loaders in front what kept water back was the rise in elevation of the room the leak started kept the water contained till they got to that level and assembled at emergency designated point and sent people to try to get to main shaft (cage) and also to emergency shaft (air shaft smaller cage could be sent down) used back up phone wind up phone and were told to try to go up old ramps to next level which they did using front end loaders to clear road of fallen scales so smaller vehicles could pass they proceeded to be taken up to surface the only injury was to office(mine) clerk she tripped and fell on a scale they had a tendency to remove there battery and lights (heavy, she was a very tiny lady) and yes everyone couldn't believe how close they started drilling it was not far from our barge dock but they did have wells all over the area and yes it was reported that when the lake drained in the canal started pulling water from the gulf, shrimp boats in Delcambre were sitting in the mud and the cages and skips sitting and plugging shafts where heard to travel up 7 story mill building and hit there pulley block at top of mill that's all I remember.

[imsatanscott]

So, you're telling me a group of rich dudes decided to drill an oil hole in the middle of a beautiful lake knowing full well that there was a mine under it? "tRuSt mE i'M aN EnGiNeEr"

[teethPogZa]

9:13 I laughed so hard at this

imagine being a tour guide in that part of Louisiana and you mention "for about 40 hours our highest waterfall in Louisiana was a 150ft waterfall in Lake Peigneur" and you tell them one of the greatest stories a person could tell...

[verkgaming]

Once he started talking about a mine I knew what was gonna happen and 100% expected little no to survivors. That is truly incredible

[peregrination]

I'm just going to agree with most people here and say, "Wow, a mining disaster where everyone survives? Incredible." And the miners were patient with a slow elevator while a lake drained on top of them. That's good emergency training. Often in these disasters there's poor training (coupled with short cuts for the budget). This is a possible example of a legit accident.

[void]

Drilling… above a giant underground salt mine… through a giant lake. Brilliance.

[-NateTheGreat]

I can't believe that lake went from 10 feet deep to 200ft. That's insane.

[danielshults]

This could make a really fantastic movie. The sense of escalating tension as the problems on the surface escalate while the workers in the mine carry on about their day, unaware of what's happening above... paired with the grim realization that only a few men can evacuate at a time as the mine fills with water. Even after the disaster is in full swing on the surface, there are compelling stories to tell about the people on the boats and barges trying to get away from the vortex.