PHL Embassy identifies missing Pinoy in Gulf of Mexico accident

The Philippine Embassy in Washington on Tuesday noon (Manila time) made public the name of a Filipino welder reported missing following an accident in the Gulf of Mexico.


In posts on its Twitter account, the embassy identified the Filipino as Peter Jorge Voces, whose kin it said had been notified of the accident.

"Next of kin of Filipino welder Peter Jorge E. Voces (were) already notified he is (the) subject of search and rescue operation in Gulf of Mexico," it said.

Voces, 38, fell off an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday evening, and is the subject of search operations by the US Coast Guard.

Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Cuisia Jr., in a news release, described Voces as a registered overseas worker hired by Offshore Specialty Fabricators based in Houma, Louisiana.

For now, Cuisia said the US Coast Guard had assured the embassy that they are "searching aggressively" for Voces.

“We have been assured by the US Coast Guard that they are searching aggressively for our missing kababayan. We hope and pray that they will find him tomorrow,” he said.

The embassy quoted Lt. Steve Arguelles of the US Coast Guard Sector New Orleans as saying Voces "accidentally fell into the Gulf of Mexico while working at the oil platform at around 7:30 p.m."

Arguelles said the accident site is at Vermillion Block 200, some 55 miles south of Freshwater Bayou between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge and is 154 miles from last year’s accident site.

Cuisia said the Embassy and the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago will continue to coordinate with authorities.

Also, Cuisia said the accident occurred almost a year after three Filipino oil workers died and three others were injured in an explosion at another offshore oil platform also off the coast of Louisiana. — KBK, GMA News

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