Rex A. Lewis helped attempt to save Lloyd Hansen from suffocation, Moss Landing, California, October 19, 1984. Hansen, 50, was found floating in the stagnant sea water of a power plant’s condensing unit, the atmosphere of which was found to be deficient in oxygen and to contain unsafe levels of other gases. After discovering the accident, Lewis, 30, operating foreman, alerted other plant employees. Lewis then climbed through a small hatch into the unit and, after tying a rope around himself, was lowered by the others to the water level. Reaching for Hansen, Lewis was rendered unconscious. As he was being pulled back to the hatch, Lewis became snagged on the unit’s flooring. He was freed by an employee who entered the unit for him, then was lifted through the hatch and removed from the unit. Lewis was hospitalized and regained consciousness several hours later; he recovered. Hansen was recovered by others, but he could not be revived.
60493-7061Rex A. Lewis
Hollister, CA