Foss Continues to Offer Grief Counseling to Employees Following Tragic Incident

Professional counselors on-call for as long as needed

LONG BEACH, February 21 – Professional counselors will be available “as long as needed” to help employees of a tug company work through their grief, following the tragic death of a co-worker on board a tug yesterday.

Dave Selga, Manager of Terminal Services at Foss Maritime Company, said the counseling service is being made available to all of the company’s southern California employees on a “24/7 basis.”

The incident took place two miles off the Marina del Rey coast. Piper Cameron, 26, was severely injured and later passed away following an accident during a tug and barge operation. A second crew member, Scott Dekraai, 38, suffered an injured right leg during the incident and is recovering at a local hospital.

“We’re all still stunned by the tragic loss,” Selga said. “Piper was wonderful person. This is a very emotional time. She will be greatly missed by all of us.”

Cameron was a deckhand on the Emma Foss, the tug that was conducting the operation near the El Segundo Mooring. She had been with the company since 2001.

Selga said that Foss is calling all employees in the area to notify them of the Cameron’s passing and to provide information about the counseling services that are available, as well as answer questions they may have.

“This is tough on everyone. And different people react different ways. We’re encouraging all of our employees to speak with a grief counselor.”

According to Selga, Foss continues to fully cooperate with the US Coast Guard and LA County Sheriffs Department on the investigation.

“Our crew and other witnesses have all been interviewed by the Coast Guard. Whatever they need from us in terms of information – we will provide it to them. It’s imperative that we find out what caused this tragedy. We never want to see something like this happen again,” Selga said.

Selga also said that he and other company representatives are meeting with both families today. “We want to do whatever we can to help them through this difficult time.”

He said that prior to announcing any plans for a company memorial to honor Piper Cameron, he first wanted to hear the wishes of the family.

“We want to make sure we’re doing what they think is best to remember Piper,” Selga said.