Two tragic incidents in the U.S. claimed the lives of two workers in different fields on Saturday.
The U.S. Coast Guard opened a Marine Board of Investigation into the fatal implosion of a submersible that killed one person and injured two others off the coast of Florida on Friday.
The submersible, named Limiting Factor, was part of an expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. It was returning from a dive when it suffered a “catastrophic implosion” at a depth of about 3,000 feet, according to the Coast Guard.
The implosion killed one person on board, identified as Victor Vescovo, a wealthy adventurer and founder of Caladan Oceanic, the company that owns the submersible. Two other people on board, pilot Shane Eigler and scientist Jonathan Struwe, were injured and airlifted to a hospital in Jacksonville.
The Coast Guard said it will conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the implosion and make recommendations to prevent future accidents. The investigation could take up to a year, according to Capt. Mark Vlaun, commander of Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville.
In another incident, a San Antonio airport worker died after being “ingested” into an airplane engine in an apparent freak accident on Saturday morning.
The worker, whose name has not been released, was performing maintenance on a Boeing 737-500 aircraft at San Antonio International Airport when he was pulled into the engine, according to a statement from Swift Air, the operator of the aircraft.
The worker was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders. No passengers or crew were on board the aircraft at the time of the incident.
Swift Air said it is cooperating with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the incident. The company also expressed its condolences to the worker’s family and colleagues.
