On November 5, 1983, the most gruesome decompression accident in history occurred on the Byford Dolphin rig. Four divers were resting in a chamber pressurized to 9 atmospheres (simulating a depth of hundreds of feet). A technician accidentally opened the clamp before the chamber was sealed. The resulting Explosive Decompression was instantaneous. The pressure inside the chamber dropped from 9 atmospheres to 1 atmosphere in less than a second. This caused the nitrogen gas dissolved in the divers'

The Day Their Blood Boiled: The Byford Dolphin Accident