Twin Span accident victim identified

A worker killed Thursday when a girder collapsed on the Interstate 10 Twin Span construction site has been identified by the St. Tammany Coroner’s Office as Eric Blackmon, 44, of Cape Coral, Fla.

Blackmon was temporarily living in Slidell while working for Boh Brothers on the new bridge. He was one of 10 workers to be tossed into Lake Pontchartrain when the incident occurred around noon. While nine of the men were recovered, Blackmon was pinned beneath a large piece of concrete that had fallen into the water at the same time.

A large crane was brought in to help move the debris, and rescue divers were finally able to bring Blackmon’s body to the surface about 6:30 p.m.

Construction work has been halted indefinitely on the project while state and federal investigators work to determine how the accident happened. According to Mark Lambert, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, work will most likely resume once a viable safety plan is in place for the contractors.

“The DOTD is working alongside the Federal Highway Administration, as well as OSHA, in the investigation,” said Lambert. “We can’t really put a time frame on it right now, but once that plan is in place for the contractors they should be able to get back to work.”

Boh Bros. released a statement Friday, saying, “We are sincerely and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a member of the Boh Bros. organization.”

The released added, “We are working closely with various regulatory agencies to understand how the accident happened.  Our initial assessment of the site indicates that proper safety procedures were followed. Boh Bros. will not resume work on this activity of the project until we are confident that this situation will not happen again.”