Last night around 9:00, a tugboat named 'Miss Gayle' pulled out of the Big Creek Port in Independence Village with an oilrig sitting on a barge. But one mile out, the barge capsized, and the crew of 9 men went overboard. All of them survived except for 30-year-old Allen Bonnell. His body was recovered at around 9:00 this morning. One other crew member received a head injury and is reported in good condition.
The rig is for a company called Allen Oil Belize which is doing oil exploration near Monkey River…
The rig was making its sixth journey out that way, and a company representative tells us that at this point they don't know what caused it capsize. It is called a jack up rig, which remains on the 60 by 40 barge when it does its exploration.
