CIUDAD DEL CARMEN, Mexico — A small, flat fiberglass raft was all 10 oil workers had to escape the leveling winds and towering waves of Tropical Storm Nate as it pounded their disabled rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
As the crew went to deploy a sealed, inflatable lifeboat equipped with water, first aid and a tracking device, the high winds snatched it from the deck. Three workers for Houston- based Geokinetics Inc., three contractors and four Americans who made up the lifeboat crew took to the rough seas in a flat, rectangular raft with an inflated perimeter, some tethered and half-submerged, grabbing onto side handles because the craft could not fit all 10 on board.
Australian oil worker Aaron Houweling lost his grip within the first hours, officials said. Rescuers were still searching for him Wednesday.
The other nine were tossed about in their tiny raft for three days. Rescue crews found the raft 140 miles away Sunday, still carrying four men. Three more survivors were found bobbing in life jackets nearby. The search also recovered two bodies, one tethered to the raft and another still buoyed by a life jacket in the open sea.
The Associated Press
