Embassy: Body of missing Pinoy in Gulf of Mexico recovered

MANILA, Philippines - The US Coast Guard has recovered the body of a Filipino welder who fell off an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the Philippine Embassy said.

The Embassy said in its Twitter account on Wednesday morning that the body of Peter Jorge Voces was found by Coast Guard divers at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, (US time).

"It is with deep sadness that we learn about the loss of our kababayan," the Embassy quoted Ambassador Jose Cuisia, Jr. as saying.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones in the Philippines," it added.

In an earlier release, the Embassy said the 38-year-old Filipino worker accidentally fell into the Gulf of Mexico while working at the oil platform at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

He was knocked off the oil platform by an empty storage tank that fell with him into the waters.

The Embassy explained that according to Lt. Steve Arguelles of the US Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, the accident site is located at Vermillion Block 200, some 55 miles south of Freshwater Bayou between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge.

Cuisia said the accident comes almost a year after an explosion at another offshore oil platform also off the coast of Louisiana killed three Filipino oil workers and seriously injured three others.

Leo Herrera Lim, Philippine Consul General  in Chicago will facilitate repatriation of remains, according to the Embassy.

"We will do everything possible to bring Mr. Voces home at the soonest possible time,” the Embassy quoted Lim as saying.