Paula Walker, BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill survivor, talks about how she survived the explosions at the oil rig. Paula made it to a lifeboat right before the explosion. Her first person account reveals that the disaster has left her with post-traumatic stress disorder as she struggles to live a normal life. The Deepwater Horizon was a 9-year-old semi-submersible, mobile, floating, dynamically positioned drilling rig that could operate in waters up to 10,000 feet deep. On April 22, an oil leak was discovered when a large oil slick began to spread at the former rig site. The leak lasted 87 days.