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Welder's death prompts inquiry

The recently arrived Puerto Rican dies after collapsing in a ship's hot interior. Why isn't clear.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published August 17, 2006

TAMPA - Wilfredo Montalvo Morales left Puerto Rico in search of a better job, trying to provide for his family.

A sweet-natured man with big dreams, he was optimistic, figuring he could make a living from welding skills learned from his father, said his cousin's wife, Sonia Aleman.

"He was excited," she said. "He was a good guy. With only his smile looking at you, he would get your heart."

His search brought him to New Orleans, then to Tampa, where he was hired as a welder at a shipyard. But on his second day on the job, Morales, 40, collapsed inside a ship and died.

His death Aug. 9 has prompted an investigation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to Les Grove, director of the agency's Tampa office.

Grove declined to give more information, citing an open investigation.

Morales was employed as a contract worker for Advanced Technologies Inc.

Danielle Peterson, an account specialist in Virginia for the company, confirmed that Morales died on his second day at work. She referred other questions to the federal safety agency, saying Advanced Technologies' insurance company was handling the matter.

"It's being investigated so I can't give out any more information until I find out what happened," she said.

Tad Humphreys, president of International Ship Repair & Marine Services at the port, did not return several phone messages left at his office on Wednesday.

An autopsy has been completed, but the results are pending, according to the Hillsborough Medical Examiner's Office. The office declined to give any information until the full report is completed, which could take up to two months.

What is known is that Aug. 9 - Morales' second day at International Ship Repair & Marine Services - he collapsed while working inside a ship.

Mrs. Aleman had dropped him off at work that morning. It had been a long night. Her husband was taken by ambulance to an emergency room for kidney stones, and Morales had been up most of the night with them.

Before leaving for work, Morales and Mrs. Aleman made ham and cheese sandwiches. Morales said he didn't have a chance to eat lunch on his first day, so he wanted to be sure to take food, she recalled.

Emergency crews were called to the ship, at 2124 Barge Drive, at 2:40 p.m., said Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Bill Wade. They pulled Morales from the ship and took him to Tampa General Hospital.

Mrs. Aleman returned to pick him up that afternoon, but she couldn't find him. No one seemed to know where he was, she said.

That evening, Sonia Aleman and her husband, Anibal Aleman, got a call from the hospital.

Come quickly, there had been an accident, the caller said. The Alemans rushed to Tampa General.

Morales was dead when they arrived. The hospital staff told her he had suffered heatstroke, she said.

"He was so alive," she said. "He wanted to live so bad."

Timmy Ordoyne, 39, of Houma, La., says he was working on the ship when Morales collapsed. He quit work Wednesday morning because of concerns for his safety, he said.

"It's just too much, it's just too much," he said. "I just saw a man die."

He said he and other welders were working in extremely hot, dirty conditions in a poorly ventilated ship.

When Morales collapsed, workers performed CPR, he said, but were unable to revive Morales.

"I don't know this man," he said. "I just know him because I've worked with him. But it could have been me."

The Alemans were Morales' only relatives in Tampa.

When he moved here, they took him in, gave him a place to stay. He melded easily into their family's life, Mrs. Aleman said.

Morales told them of his hopes for his family, a wife and three daughters. He wanted to make enough money to get an apartment, to bring them all here, too. He wanted them to attend good schools, to be well educated.

"He was a good daddy," Mrs. Aleman said.

He wasn't above joking about his modest means.

He would sit on the floor of the family's living room and spread out all his important documents.

"He would say, 'Look at my office,' " she recalled.

When her mind is idle, her thoughts wander to Morales, she said. She remembers his last glance at her, a smile.

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 813 226-3373 or vansickle@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 20, 2006, 08:49:20]