Filipino fatality in oil rig fire in US identified

This aerial photograph shows damage from an explosion and fire on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, about 25 miles southeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana on Friday. AP

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine embassy in Washington on Monday said that the Filipino contract worker who died when an oil platform he was working on caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico Friday had been identified.

In a statement, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr. said that the remains of contract worker Elroy Corporal, 42, were now in New Orleans and would be readied for repatriation back to the Philippines after authorities perform an autopsy Monday.

Corporal is survived by his wife, Mary Jean, and their two children.

The statement noted that Cuisia had talked with Mary Jean, who was based in Iligan City, to extend his sympathies and offer assistance to the family.

On Sunday, the embassy confirmed that the body recovered in the waters near an oil platform 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.

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.

Search continues for missing Filipino contract worker

Meanwhile, Cuisia had noted that three days after the incident, search efforts for the other missing Filipino contract worker continued.

“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.

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 Attaché, under Brig. Gen. Cesar Yano, that the US Coast Guard still had assets that were monitoring the situation in the area.

Cuisia, on Monday, said that Black Elk Energy had dispatched two vessels and several divers to continue with their own search efforts.

In critical condition

In his earlier statements, Cuisia 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 attend to the remains of the lone Filipino fatality and to monitor the search for a missing worker.

The officials also met with doctors of Baton Rouge General Hospital, where four Filipino workers were being treated for serious burns sustained during the incident.

Cuisia said that Dr. Flip Roberts, Chief Medical Officer, and Dr. Jeffrey Littleton, Burn Surgeon and Chair of the Department of Surgery, informed the officials that two of four Filipinos remained in critical condition at the hospital’s Regional Burn Unit while one was in serious condition. The hospital said the four patients were considered to have major burns and remained in the critical window of time that follows major burn injuries and were continuing on normal courses of treatment.

Meanwhile, 50-year-old Wilberto Ilagan, the fourth Filipino worker being treated at the hospital, had been moved out of the serious list and is now 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. Littleton.

Meanwhile, DFA Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, in a press briefing at the DFA main office in Pasay, said that the families of those who were affected had been informed and would be provided with adequate assistance.

In an emailed statement, Jesse Collera, Human Resources Manager and Head of Corporate Communications of D&R Offshore and Crewing Services, Inc., the local manning agency of Grand Isle Shipyard, said the company was in touch with the families and would provide them with the necessary assistance such as financial and moral support, including counseling.

“We have assured the relatives that the necessary compensation and benefits for the sustained injuries will be given,” Collera said in the statement.

“The company is presently assisting them in securing the necessary travel documents including visas in order to bring them immediately to the site,” he added.

He noted that six of the Valiant Offshore Workers were affected by the incident, four were in the hospitals and Corporal was the fatality. He said, however, that Jerome Malagapo, another worker for the company, had not been accounted for and remained missing.

The embassy in Washington said the three consular officials will also meet with the three other Filipino workers who were in the oil platform at the time of the incident as well as with representatives of their employer, Gulf Isle Shipyard Inc., and the platform owner Black Elk Energy.

The Embassy said there were nine Filipino and five non-Filipino employees of Gulf Isle working on the oil platform at the time of the incident but it could not immediately confirm whether the three who were not reported missing or injured suffered minor injuries or were unhurt.

The nine Filipinos who figured in the incident are 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