Coast Guard confirms body recovered in Kill Van Kull is missing barge worker
A barge worker near the International Matex Tank Terminals in Bayonne is the subject of a massive search. Jersey Journal file photo (EJA)
Jonathan Lin | The Jersey Journal
on October 18, 2015 at 3:16 PM, updated June 24, 2016 at 4:22 PM
BAYONNE - A spokeswoman for the US Coast Guard confirmed this afternoon that the body recovered yesterday in the Kill Van Kull is in fact Danny Peters, the 55-year-old barge worker who fell into the water Friday evening.
Around 7 p.m. Friday, Peters was working at Pier 1 of the International Matex Tank Terminal with an empty barge for loading, Bayonne Police Sgt. David Conte told The Jersey Journal.
Fifteen minutes later, Peters was descending a ladder to get off the barge when the ladder shifted, causing him to lose his balance and fall in the water, Conte said.
An IMTT employee who was standing on the pier saw what happened and went to get a life ring just a little further up the pier, but when he returned, Peters was gone, Conte said. Three or four other crew members were elsewhere on the tugboat and didn't see what had happened, he said.
The Coast Guard suspended the search for the body at 12:30 a.m. Saturday. State police resumed diving operations in the Kill Van Kull at 10:40 a.m. Saturday. Seven minutes later, the divers found a body "in the same general vicinity" Peters had entered the water the night before, Conte said.
"This would appear to be accidental at this point," Conte said. "This has been entitled as an industrial accident."
The Bayonne Police Department is the lead agency investigating the incident. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigating, the Coast Guard spokeswoman said today.
Bayonne police officials refused to accept phone calls about the matter today. An IMTT worker said no one would be available to comment before tomorrow.
Searchers included a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium rescue crew from Coast Guard Station New York; the NYPD Aviation Division; the NYPD Harbor Division; the Bayonne Fire Department; the Bayonne Police Department; and the New Jersey State Police.
Conte said the recovered body would undergo an autopsy.