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Diver dies while working on rig unrelated to spill
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Diver dies while working on rig unrelated to spill
(AP) – 7 hours ago
CHICAGO — A waste services company says a diver performing maintenance on a client's rig in the Gulf of Mexico, unrelated to the massive oil spill, has died after an underwater accident.
A statement from Chicago-based Veolia Environmental Services North America says the diver was working at a depth of about 250 feet from the company's Normand Clipper vessel when "what might have been an underwater explosion" happened about 11:30 a.m. CDT Friday.
Veolia says rescue teams retrieved the diver but paramedics weren't able to resuscitate him.
The company didn't specify the client. But Margaret Cooper with Houston-based Chevron U.S.A. confirms a Veolia contractor died while performing maintenance on a Chevron rig that had been damaged by a hurricane in recent years.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2T5Oh3ks9UO8FX-x...
Diver dies while working on rig unrelated to spill
(AP) – 7 hours ago
CHICAGO — A waste services company says a diver performing maintenance on a client's rig in the Gulf of Mexico, unrelated to the massive oil spill, has died after an underwater accident.
A statement from Chicago-based Veolia Environmental Services North America says the diver was working at a depth of about 250 feet from the company's Normand Clipper vessel when "what might have been an underwater explosion" happened about 11:30 a.m. CDT Friday.
Veolia says rescue teams retrieved the diver but paramedics weren't able to resuscitate him.
The company didn't specify the client. But Margaret Cooper with Houston-based Chevron U.S.A. confirms a Veolia contractor died while performing maintenance on a Chevron rig that had been damaged by a hurricane in recent years.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Laura McGregor on -
I can't even imagine what his family and friends are going through right now. So very sad. They are in my thoughts.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Hume on -
Rest in peace. Thoughts and prayers are with his family.
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Permalink Reply by Ace Parnell on -
My condolences to all family members. Rest in peace my brother.
Wondering if anyone know if he was welding or burning when this tragedy occurred?
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Permalink Reply by Patrick O Shea on -
A sad event for all concerned. Condolences to his family.
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Permalink Reply by Dive Diva on -
By Gary Glancy
gary.glancy@shj.com
Published: Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
Today, when Chris Hollifield is laid to rest, the Rev. Bill Pate will speak about “the glory of the unexpected.”
Chris Hollifield, Spartanburg diver dies working on rig in Gulf
Hollifield, 33, a Spartanburg native and U.S. Marine veteran, died Friday performing maintenance on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
“At 11:30 a.m. last Friday, 250 feet down in the Gulf of
Mexico, there was the glory of the unexpected of (Hollifield) going home to be with the Lord,” said Pate, pastor of Tucapau Baptist Church in Startex, who will conduct Hollifield's funeral service at 11 a.m. today at Floyd's Greenlawn Chapel. “Going to heaven from the Gulf of Mexico.”
According to his father, Hollifield spent his final moments in a place that was the next best thing to heaven — the water.
“He just loved the water his whole life,” Mike Hollifield said. “Being in it, being around it.”
The unexpected, however, can also bring deep sorrow.
“So, so sad” were the words spoken by many as they left Greenlawn Chapel Tuesday evening. Less than 30 minutes after visitation began, a 90-minute line had already formed of family and friends looking to pay their final respects to Hollifield.
Many were co-workers of Hollifield's pregnant wife, Ping, who is due to deliver the couple's first child, a son named Tanner Chris Hollifield, in October.
”She's so strong,” Leigh Ann Brown, an employee of QS/1 where she works with Ping. “My heart just hurts for her, but she's been amazingly strong.”
Family and friends remembered the outgoing, adventurous Hollifield as a loving husband and devout Christian who cherished his family, and was excited to start one with Ping.
“Loved people, loved life ... loved living life,” Mike Holifield said of his son.
“He was a great guy, always smiling,” added Patty Splawn, another co-worker of Ping's who met Chris Hollifield at Nautilus Fitness Center where many QS/1 employees go to work out. “And he loved Ping, because when he would come in the gym, he'd always come up to her and give her a kiss and hug and then he'd go on and do his workout.”
‘Fine young man'
After serving in the Marines, Hollifield — a Dorman High School graduate — attended The Ocean Corporation in Houston, which offers commercial diver and underwater construction training. Hollifield lived in Pensacola, Fla., for five years before moving back to the Upstate, his father said.
He worked as a diver for several companies over the last decade and recently was employed by Veolia Environmental Services.
In September 2008, Pate married Chris and Ping Hollifield, and Mike Hollifield — who is a first cousin of Pate's — said the family saw an “unbelievable change” in Chris unfold.
Mike Hollifield said his adventurous son who loved the explore waterfalls and mountain-bike began to shift his priorities.
“He was so excited about being a father,” Chris' father said.
Chris knew all too well the inherent dangers of his job, having previously lost a friend and fellow diver in a similar accident that would take his own life. Hollifield was just one day away from returning home from a month-long diving trip off the Gulf Coast when the accident occurred, and — as an expecting father with new responsibilities on the horizon — Hollifield planned to stop diving and pursue a career as a supervisor in the field.
Mike Hollifield, who said he still doesn't know the exact cause of his son's death — with results of an autopsy pending — said he saw his son for the last time at Chris' home in Moore just before he left for the Gulf.
He said he sat by the pool chatting about life with his son, then gave him a hug and told Chris he loved him and was proud of him.
“Chris was a fine, fine young man,” Pate said. “Very outgoing, loved people — he was that kind of person. I know that Chris comes from a wonderful, wonderful Christian family, and their faith in Christ is giving them the grace to go on. Of course it's very hard, but they are coping.”
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Permalink Reply by John Carl Roat on -
I know things a tough and all off are short of money. We are here and right now it is TOUGHTER for Chris’s wife and unborn child then any of us. Below is from The Commercial Divers Wives
"The commercial dive community has lost another brother as you all know. Please click on the link below to contribute to the Chris Hollifield Memorial Fund. The proceeds will go directly to his widow and their first baby due in a few months. There's certainly going to be a long hard road for those 2 in the time to come, so we should all help in whatever way we can."
http://www.commercialdiverwives.com/
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Permalink Reply by John Joly on
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I tire of losing friends and colleagues in diving incidents. My sincere condolences are offered, though that's of little value to a pregnant widow and bereaved parents. Having come very close to death in the water myself, I am qualified to cry out for improved incident study and corporate commitment to intense safety programs. Diving contractors and client companies alike have cut corners over the 40 years since I started in Commercial Diving. I cannot declare that Veolia or Chevron is remiss in this incident and I hope that they were not.
The time and money spent on safer equipment and procedures is a pittance compared to the loss of lives and the effects on many survivors. On a material note, safety is less expensive than tragedy - ask BP.
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