“I am a 23 year veteran on cranes and I was there on site. Only God and the brothers on the job know what happened,” said the man, who did not leave his name. “We will learn soon what not to do when we as operators are trying to make the job safe and ready for the big move.
“We all lost some good and knowledgeable men that day, and nearly my own life as well,” he said. “These are the facts: we as operators are pushing to do the impossible and to do job task forced on us … We only know when in doubt, shut it down. And that is something they who lost their lives knew too.
“This is what we do, pick up the unthinkable and make it happen. And that is what we were not ready for when God picked up our four brothers to help up there. So please stand by your true operators because they do ride it out … We could have lost more good folks. R.I.P.; love you and your families.”
The company named the four men who died in the incident, all from the state of Texas, as Marion “Scooter” Hubert Odom III, 41, of Highlands, John D. Henry, 33, of Dayton, Daniel “DJ” Lee Johnson, 30, of Dayton and Rocky Dale Strength, 30, of Santa Fe.
In a statement the day after the incident, the company posted a statement on its web site: “Our thoughts and prayers are focused on our deceased co-workers, their families and friends, and the extended Deep South Crane and Rigging family. We wish we had all of the answers on what happened and why – but we do not – and speculating on cause would not resolve anything. But we are actively working to find those answers. We are fully engaged and cooperating with OSHA in their investigation of the accident. Our common goal is to identify the root cause, correct any issue that may be found, and ensure that this type of tragic accident does not occur again.”
