ERWIN, Tenn. (WVLT/Gray News) – The body of the last missing Impact Plastics employee in Erwin, Tennessee was recovered more than a month after flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.
Officials with Unicoi County Search and Rescue confirmed 29-year-old Rosa Andrade was among the six workers at the facility who were killed in the flooding.
She leaves behind a husband and two children.
The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it had opened an investigation into Impact Plastics last month.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was also investigating the way the company handled the historic flooding after some employees claimed the company did not allow them to leave the Erwin facility with enough time to get to safety.
The CEO of Impact Plastics Gerald O’Connor released a statement after TOSHA and the TBI announced they were investigating employee deaths.
The family of a supervisor killed at Impact Plastics said the owner of the factory was not one of the last people to leave the factory, contradictory to what the owner has publicly said.
Johnny Peterson, an Impact Plastics supervisor, helped get at least 10 people out of the factory and onto the bed of a semitruck before the semitruck was flipped over by Helene floodwaters that day.
The last video Peterson sent to his daughter Alexa was from inside the bed of the semitruck at 12:57 p.m.
Officials said an investigation into workplace deaths can take up to six months to complete.
Copyright 2024 WVLT via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.