2 confirmed dead in shipyard explosion

State News

November 21, 2009

Anonymous Picayune Item Sat Nov 21, 2009, 07:04 PM CST

ESCATAWPA — Moss Point Police and emergency crews confirmed two people died in an explosion at a Jackson County Shipyard.

Emergency crews responded to VT Halter Marine’s Escatawpa shipyard late Friday afternoon. Crews left the scene around 9 p.m. Friday after an evening rescuing survivors and recovering bodies.

From 4 pm on Friday until well after dark, emergency crews flooded into VT Halter Marine after a deadly explosion in the hull of a tugboat.

“They were cleaning a tank, preparing it to be painted,” said VT Halter Marine CEO William Skinner.

The cause has not yet been released.

Officials confirmed Friday night that two people died in the accident, and three more were taken to Singing River Hospital.Hospital officials reported of those three, two were treated and released and the third was sent to the University of South Alabama’s burn center.

A sixth person was airlifted from the scene to Mobile, and was listed in critical condition.

Skinner said this accident is the first of this magnitude for the site. He said all of their workers are trained to uphold safety standards.

“They go through safety orientation,” Skinner said. “It’s a very straightforward process in cleaning and getting ready to paint. But again, the accident’s being investigated at this time.”

The names of those who died in Friday’s explosion have not been released.

The shipyard is one of three Jackson County shipyards run by the company. The company employs approximately 1,500 people in its Jackson County locations. Skinner said 250 employees work at that particular shipyard.

The shipyard is a shipbuilding facility that makes several different types of vessels, including several different tug boats.

Text Only

State News

Miss. high court hears arguments over pardons Feuding attorneys asked the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday to determine the validity of pardons that Haley Barbour gave to convicted killers and other convicts during his final days as governor. Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said the court would not rule Thursday, but he didn’t say when a decision would come.
February 10, 2012
Senate votes to merge 3 Sunflower school districts The Mississippi Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would merge Sunflower County’s three school districts into one, easing into the politically sensitive topic of consolidation by focusing on a single area in the impoverished Delta.
February 9, 2012
Kansas, Missouri fight to keep Marine data center
Kansas and Missouri officials are working together to fend off New Orleans’ effort to lure a Marine Corps data center and its 400 high-paying jobs away from Kansas City.
The congressional delegations and governors from both states have written to Marine Corps Commandant James F. Amos, arguing to keep the center where it is.

February 8, 2012
Judge temporarily blocks Mississippi execution
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the execution of a Mississippi inmate who killed two men during a robbery spree in 1995. The man’s attorneys asked for the order, not arguing guilt or innocence, but that corrections officials prevented Edwin Hart Turner from getting medical tests that could prove he is mentally ill.

February 7, 2012
New rules, tests proposed for public aid in Miss.
People who receive public assistance would be subject to random testing for drugs or nicotine and would have to perform community service under new requirements being considered by Mississippi lawmakers.

February 4, 2012
Home strengthening may lower insurance
Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said he is working with legislators on a bill that would require insurers to offer discounts to homeowners who have strengthened homes against wind damage.
State officials told the Sun Herald that they hope the reinforcement of roofing, doors, windows and other components also will qualify homeowners for insurance discounts, although there are no guarantees.

February 4, 2012
Inmate asks courts to stop execution
Condemned inmate Edwin Hart Turner’s lawyer told a federal judge Friday that a corrections policy prevented Turner from getting tests that could prove he’s mentally ill and ineligible for execution.

February 4, 2012
Pardoned killer to fight return to Mississippi
A convicted murderer who left Mississippi after being pardoned by former Gov. Haley Barbour seems poised to fight attempts to force him to return from Wyoming. Joseph Ozment’s attorney, Robert Moxley, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he will defend Ozment’s freedom if he decides to try to stay in Wyoming.

February 3, 2012
Universities say financial aid fund running short
Recipients of state scholarships could see their aid packages trimmed unless the Mississippi Legislature puts more money into financial aid. That includes the more than 20,000 students who receive the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant.

February 3, 2012
Bad info infuriated kin of pardoned man’s victims
In another twist in the often confusing aftermath of pardons granted by former Gov. Haley Barbour on his way out of office, Mississippi corrections officials said Tuesday that victims’ relatives were given bad information by the state that fanned their outrage.

February 2, 2012
More State News Headlines

State News

Search Results

2 confirmed dead in shipyard explosion

Site Map

Contact Us