Emergency vehicles are parked near a dock in Sabine Pass while first responders work to recover the body of a man who fell from a rig in Sabine Pass on Tuesday. Mary Meaux/The News By L.V. Salinas
Sabine Pass rig worker’s death required divers’ aid
Published 9:50 am Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Scenes from emergency workers in search for rig worker:
A crane pulls a catwalk from the waterway adjacent to the decommissioned Sovereign Explorer rig in Sabine Pass on Tuesday. The structure had to be removed so dive teams could safely search for a man who fell from the rig.
Mary Meaux/The News
A dive team with the Port Arthur Fire Department dock their boat to take a break after searching for the body of a man who fell from a rig in Sabine Pass on Tuesday.
Mary Meaux/The News
A worker died after he fell from the decommissioned Sovereign Explorer rig in Sabine Pass on Tuesday.
Mary Meaux/The News
A ‘restricted area’ sign on a fence near the Sovereign Explorer rig.
Mary Meaux/The News
A fatal rig accident caused authorities to arrive on scene and conduct an underwater search for the body of a Port Arthur worker in Sabine Pass.
The accident occurred on Tuesday morning in the 5500 block of South First Avenue when Ramiro Ayala, 40, fell about 100 feet into the water. He was working on the decommissioned oil rig, Sovereign Explorer, at the time of the accident.
Ayala was employed with ERSI.
Fire Marshal for the Port Arthur Fire Department, Paul Washburn, said they received the phone call regarding the incident shortly after 9 a.m.
“Workers thought they saw him fall,” the fire marshal said.
The PAFD and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department each issued a boat to aid in search efforts while the U.S. Coast Guard sent out two boats.
“Divers on the scene have to be careful due to hazards in the water,” Washburn said when explaining why PAFD divers had to go in two two-man teams.
Obstacles like poor visibility and scattered debris in the water hindered search efforts and made conditions “extremely dangerous for the divers,” according to Washburn.
In addition, a company crane had to be used to remove remains of a catwalk and other wreckage that had fallen with Ayala and had likely become entangled with the body.
Around 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, Ayala’s body was recovered from the water.
“Apparently, he had used safety equipment,” Washburn said, although the exact details of what caused him to fall were still unknown.
Ayala’s family has been notified; and, as of Tuesday evening, OSHA or Occupational Safety and Health Administration were onsite looking into it.
“We’re wrapping up search and recovery and shifting into investigation,” Washburn said.
The investigation is ongoing.
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SABINE PASS -- A Port Arthur man working on an offshore rig in Sabine Pass fell 100 feet to his death Tuesday, local authorities said after spending six hours searching for him in the water.
Divers recovered the body of Ramiro Ayala, 40, about 3 p.m. near the rig, which is undergoing decommissioning.
Ayala worked for Environmental Remediation Services Inc., which was contracted to help take apart the rig.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched an investigation into the workplace death.
Ayala fell about 9 a.m., the Port Arthur Fire Department reported, from the rig Sovereign Explorer near the U.S. Coast Guard's Station Sabine, which is a search and recovery and law enforcement unit.
A piece of debris, which looked like a catwalk from the rig, might have figured in Ayala's fall, said Port Arthur Fire Marshal Paul Washburn.
A crane finally pulled the piece of catwalk from the water after a strap on the crane broke, further complicating the search. Ayala's body was not entangled in it, Washburn said