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Body of worker finally recovered

Nov 7, 2008 | Associated Press | Sun Herald Times

Recovery efforts ended late Wednesday afternoon for a worker who fell 170 feet to his death after the scaffolding he and six others were working on collapsed at Mississippi Power's Plant Daniel.

Tom Guidry, public information officer for the New Iberia, La., industrial service company Land Coast Insulation, Inc., said a private contractor was called in early Wednesday to recover the deceased worker, identified as Henry Pena III, 45, and a resident of Chicago.

In recent months, Guidry had been staying in San Antonio along with six of his colleagues who also fell from the collapsed structure.

The contract workers were working on the scaffolding around 5:50 a.m. Tuesday, when it collapsed, burying some of the men under large mounds of steel and other debris.

Rescue crews worked throughout the day Tuesday to recover all of the survivors. By day's end, Pena's body had been spotted but was buried under so much rubble that first responders were unable to immediately pull him out.

The rescue workers, however, did make their way to the area where Pena had been lodged and determined that he was deceased before the recovery efforts ended for the night Tuesday. The work resumed early Wednesday morning.

Guidry said he and other company officials are currently investigating the accident but so far have not determined what could've caused it.

"At this point," Guidry said, "we don't have a good theory."

Pena and the six other workers were erecting scaffolding that would've made it possible for Mississippi Power officials to make any necessary repairs on equipment in the boiler house, where coal is used to generate power.

Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration also are investigating, as is routine in cases where employees are hurt on the job.