PH officials in Louisiana to assist Filipinos in US oil rig fire

Commercial vessels spray water to extinguish a platform fire on board the West Delta 32 oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico off Grand Isle, Louisiana on November 16, 2012. AFP PHOTO / US COAST GUARD

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine embassy in Washington on Monday said Philippine officials had arrived in Louisiana to assist Filipinos who were wounded when an oil platform caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico Friday.

In a statement, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr. said Deputy Consul General Orontes Castro Jr. of the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, Welfare Officer Saul de Vries and Assistant Labor Officer Oliver Flores of the embassy in Washington flew into New Orleans on Sunday afternoon (Monday morning in Manila) to also attend to the remains of the lone Filipino fatality and to monitor the search for a missing worker.

“Our officials are now on the ground in New Orleans and will soon be on their way to Baton Rouge (General Hosptial) to extend the necessary assistance to the affected workers,” Cuisia said.

On Sunday, the embassy confirmed that the body recovered in the waters near an oil platrform belonged to one of two missing Filipino workers.

It had been reported that the remains of the Filipino were found Saturday night by divers hired by Black Elk Energy.

Houston-based Black Elk Energy is the owner of the oil platform.

Oilfield contractor Grand Isle Shipyard Inc., employer of the two Filipinos, identified the recovered body as that of one of the two missing workers, Cuisia said. The embassy declined to release names and expressed its condolences to the family of the dead worker.

John Hoffman, the president and CEO of Black Elk Energy, said the body was found close to the leg of the platform, near where the explosion occurred, in about 30 feet of water.

According to WWL-TV in New Orleans, GIS CEO Mark Pregeant had released a statement that said that the company had notified the family of the victims. The statement, however, did not give their names.

Meanwhile, Cuisia said that the three Philippine officials would meet with doctors at Baton Rouge General Hospital, three other Filipino workers who survived the explosion and representatives of Gulf Isle Shipyard Inc. and Black Elk Energy.

Cuisia had earlier requested US authorities to resume their search efforts for the missing Filipino worker after the US Coast Guard called these off on Saturday evening following a 32-hour operation.

He said that the Pentagon, however, informed the Office of the Defense and Armed Forces Attache, under Brig. Gen. Cesar Yano, that the US Coast Guard still had assets that were monitoring the situation in the area.

“We know that it has been more than 48 hours but we Filipinos always believe in miracles and we continue to pray that our other kababayan will be found alive,” Cuisia said.

Officials of Black Elk Energy were also reported to have said that their divers will continue their search for the missing Filipino worker, who was one of two initially unaccounted for following the explosion and fire that struck their oil platform.

In critical conditions

Meanwhile, 50-year-old Wilberto Ilagan, one of four Filipino workers being treated at Regional Burn Unit of the Baton Rouge General Hospital for serious burns sustained during the incident, had been moved out of the serious list and is now in “fair condition,” the Philippine embassy in Washington said in a statement.

Citing a report from the hospital, the embassy said two of the four Filipino patients remained in critical condition while another was in serious condition.  Ilagan, on the other hand, had demonstrated progress and was in fair condition.

“To my relatives, to my family, and to my country, I am alive and in good health. I am burned, but my heart and lungs are healthy,” the embassy quoted Ilagan as saying.

Ilagan reportedly conveyed his message to  Dr. Jeffrey Littleton, Burn Surgeon and Chair of the Department of Surgery.

The embassy also noted that Labor Attache Luzviminda Padilla, was also able to talk briefly to Ilagan on Saturday night. It was the Embassy that informed him that he was earlier erroneously reported to have died in the incident.

The embassy had earlier said there were nine Filipinos working on the oil platform at the time of the incident but it could not confirm whether the three who were not reported missing or injured suffered minor injuries or were unhurt.

It said the nine Filipinos who figured in the incident were believed to be among an estimated 162 welders, fitters, scaffolders and riggers who were hired in the Philippines to work in offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico