Rescuers have found six missing oil workers alive after they were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for three days after Tropical Storm Nate. A seventh worker who had been rescued died later at the hospital.
Ten workers were missing in the Gulf after being forced to abandon their vessel just before the storm hit. Two died, and their bodies have been recovered. Search efforts for one missing crewmember still are under way. Of the 10 workers, four were U.S. citizens from the New Iberia area.
The workers, contracted by Texas-based Geokinetics, abandoned their lift boat when it began taking on water. They evacuated the vessel and got into an enclosed life raft that was stocked with flares and several days’ worth of supplies and water, but no communications devices. A vessel several miles away saw the crew abandoning the lift boat but were prevented from a rescue attempt by poor weather conditions.
When Mexico’s state-owned oil company and the Mexican navy arrived at the scene, they found four workers in the life raft and three in the water. One of the dead bodies was in the water, the other still in the raft. The deceased have not yet been identified nor a cause of death determined. The six surviving crewmembers are reported in stable condition.
The maritime lawyers at Maintenance and Cure represent offshore oil rig workers injured in accidents, and families of workers killed in offshore accidents.
