Search on for Pinoy worker missing after oil rig accident off Louisiana

Search efforts are ongoing for a Filipino welder who was reported missing after being knocked off an oil rig near the Louisiana coast late Sunday, the Philippine embassy in Washington said Tuesday.
 
In posts on its Twitter account, the embassy said the US Coast Guard was still searching for the Filipino as of Tuesday morning, Manila time.
 
"US Coast Guard tells Embassy Welfare Officer Saul de Vries that search and rescue operations for (the) 38-year-old Filipino worker (are) still ongoing," it said.
 
However, the embassy did not immediately name the missing Filipino welder.
 
Citing initial information, the embassy said the accident occurred Sunday evening US time, some 55 miles off the coast of Louisiana.
 
It quoted the US Coast Guard as saying the Filipino fell off the platform in Vermillion Block 200 south of Freshwater Bayou, between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge.
 
The US Coast Guard has dispatched two cutters, two airplanes and two helicopters, it said. 
 
 
The embassy also said the incident came nearly a year after an oil rig fire in Gulf of Mexico wherethree Filipino oil workers were killed and three others were seriously hurt.
 
For now, the embassy said it is coordinating with US authorities on the matter.
 
It added the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago is trying to reach authorities to get more information on the missing Filipino worker. —KG, GMA News

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