Bodies of five workers recovered at site of Oklahoma gas well blast
By
Jerry White
24 January 2018
Rescue workers recovered the bodies of five workers Tuesday afternoon from the ruins of a gas drilling rig that exploded in eastern Oklahoma Monday morning. Family and friends of the men, who had initially been declared “missing” after the blast and ensuing fires, kept vigil through the long hours of the night and the next day before receiving the devastating news about their loved ones.
Well control experts and firefighters put out the gas-fueled blazes late Monday evening, and once the drilling rig was stabilized and the area had cooled down, Pittsburg County emergency responders and employees from the state medical examiner’s office were able to gain entry to the wreckage. Within two hours they located the remains of the deceased men.
The victims ranged from new floor hands to veteran oil and gas workers. They were identified as: Josh Ray, 35, of Fort Worth, Texas; Matt Smith, 29, of McAlester, Oklahoma; Cody Risk, 26, of Wellington, Colorado; Parker Waldridge, 60, of Crescent, Oklahoma; and Roger Cunningham, 55, of Seminole, Oklahoma.
The gas rig, known as Patterson 219, was located near Quinton, Oklahoma, about 100 miles southeast of Tulsa, and was reportedly jointly operated by Oklahoma City-based Red Mountain Energy and Houston-based Patterson UTI Drilling. The crew had drilled down to 13,000 feet on the way to 17,000 feet, company officials said, when disaster struck.
Although state and federal officials are still investigating the cause of Monday’s explosion, an initial report by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas operations, said there was an uncontrolled…