A construction worker died after falling from an offshore platform on the Texas Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi.
The Coast Guard officials in Corpus Christi received a call around 13.45 hrs local time on October 1 that a scaffolder fell off of a rig at Kiewit Offshore Services yard and into the La Quinta Channel.
The Aransas Pass Police Marine Division, along with the Ingleside Police Department and the US Coast Guard, assisted in a search and rescue operation.
Commercial divers reported finding a body matching the man’s description near the rig at about 17.30 hrs the same day.
The man, identified by San Patricio County authorities as Ricardo Jazael Loredo Padron, drowned despite wearing all the appropriate safety equipment for working at height over water.
“His inflatable PFD failed to deploy, which likely contributed to his death,” the Aransas Pass Police Department said in a statement. An autopsy has been ordered and the death investigation is still ongoing.
