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I-4 Ultimate crews access safety after 5th death

Published  October 1, 2019 6:04am EDT
News
FOX 35 Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) says I-4 Ultimate crews will be accessing construction site safety on Tuesday, a day after a fifth worker was killed.

Ulises Corrales Ibarra, 37, was working the I-4 Ultimate construction project when a concrete beam slipped off a piece of equipment, killing him, according to police. 

"It was very shocking. He was a great person, honestly. It was really sad to know that. I couldn’t believe it," says friend and former roommate David Mogollon.

He says Corrales Ibarra was a well-known activist from Venezuela, who recently came to Orlando.

"He came here and asked for political asylum, and he started working here and started doing construction."

"In my country now, its more likely to be killed or to be in prison for political reasons," explains Ignancio Carrasquero, of a Venezuelan group called, Voluntad Popular Orlando. 

Carrasquero says Corrales Ibarra worked hard in Central Florida to support his family.

"He had a little son, six years old, and his wife back home. He was always helping them, sending money to his kid."

This is the fifth worker to die working the I-4 Ultimate project since 2016.

"I feel like they need to have more caution. People can’t just die like that just from mistakes," Mogollon adds.

Kelly Franklin says her son, Marvin, was the first I-4 Ultimate construction worker to be killed.

"It shouldn’t happen. From day one, when my son was killed, the safety protocols should have gone over and over and over again," she says.

FDOT says crews from the lead contractor on I-4 Ultimate, SGL Constructors, will return to work after safety protocols and procedures are completed. They say no support beam installation will take place, until they know the cause of the fatal accident.

Friends of Corrales Ibarra say this is a tragic loss.

"You leave your country seeking security personal security, stability and a way to help your family back home and at the end you die like that," says Carrasquero.