Gulf oil spill: Two deaths reported

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U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, incident commander of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, said the deaths of two spill workers were reported Wednesday. One of the dead was from the ‘vessel of opportunity’ program in which local boats are enlisted to help the cleanup effort. The other involved a swimming pool accident. He gave no further details.

[Updated 10:21 a.m. Staff at the Baldwin County, Ala., coroner’s office said they were investigating the death of a vessels of opportunity worker who collapsed before leaving the dock at Fort Morgan. The man’s name has not been released. Gulf Shores police are investigating and plan to release information after 5 p.m. staff said. The detective handling the case did not return calls.

A spokeswoman for the Gulf Shores joint incident command said they were not investigating and had not been notified by authorities about what caused the man’s death, or whether it was work-related. Spokeswoman Cortnee Ferguson said the man was a captain operating his own boat. ]

-- Geoff Mohan and Molly Hennessy-Fiske