_fitted.png "A worker fell off an offshore platform and drowned off the coast of Texas")
_fitted.png "A man drowned on the Texas Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi after falling from an offshore platform, officials said.")
A man drowned on the Texas Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi after falling from an offshore platform, officials said.
Screenshot from San Patricia County Sheriff Oscar Rivera’s Facebook post.
A construction worker drowned after falling from an offshore platform jutting out over the Texas Gulf Coast on Saturday, Oct. 1, according to Search and Rescue.
Around 1:45 p.m., Coast Guard officials in Corpus Christi received a call that a a man fell from a Kiewit Offshore Services platform and in La Quinta Channel.
Along with seat belts and a tool belt, the man was wearing a manually inflated life jacket, the Coast Guard said. But as soon as they entered the water, they did not surface.
The Coast Guard, police from Corpus Christi and Ingleside, the Aransas Pass Dive Team and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department all launched a search for the missing worker.
Divers found the man’s body around 5:30 p.m., according to the Coast Guard.
The worker was a scaffolding subcontractor, a spokesman for Kiewit Offshore Services said in an email to McClatchy News.
Corpus Christi has a 555-acre facility, according to Kiewit company websiteadding that “we specialize in the fabrication and integration of large complex offshore projects” such as oil rigs.
“This news is devastating and our hearts go out to the family, friends and colleagues of the subcontractor,” the email said. “For Kyiv, there is nothing more important than security. We are working with the authorities to investigate this incident and ensure that something like this never happens again at KOS.”