"The last thing Felipe Saiz saw from behind his trademark mirrored sunglasses was the vast sun-bleached vista of the Permian Basin where he'd grown up, with its scrub trees and white caliche rock."

"He was standing on a platform near the top of Rig 11 at a West Texas drill site one morning in June when, hundreds of feet below, a drilling pipe got stuck and a rig superintendent increased drill power beyond normal operating limits, court documents say.

It took only seconds. The surge toppled the aging rig's mast, with Saiz held fast to it by a red nylon safety strap. The crumpled tower crashed inches from a hut where the superintendent still sat at the controls."

Lise Olsen reports for the Houston Chronicle February 22, 2014. [2]