Transocean tried to slip away from its legal responsibility in this mess.

[SpidermanTuba]

Workers aboard an exploding offshore drilling platform were told to sign statements denying they were hurt or witnessed the blast that rocked the rig, killed 11 and spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, their attorneys said Tuesday.

Survivors floated for hours in life boats in the Gulf of Mexico after the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon, and were greeted by company officials onshore asking them to sign statements that they had no "first hand or personal knowledge" of the incident, attorneys said.

"These men are told they have to sign these statements or they can't go home," said Tony Buzbee, a Houston attorney for 10 Transocean workers. "I think it's pretty callous, but I'm not surprised by it."

Rig workers in Gulf oil spill were told to sign statements, 'or they can't go home,' attorney says | NOLA.com

"When I signed that I didn't care what it was. I wanted to sign the papers to do whatever I had to do so me and my wife could leave to go home," Chris Choy, a 23-year-old surviving worker said in an interview that aired Monday night with PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." ''I'd been up for 40 hours and was just going through hell."