Missing rig worker's children home from hospital

THREE hospitalised children of missing Well Services Petroleum Company Ltd worker Pete Phillip have all recovered from their illness, and are back at school.

Phillip's widow, Candacy, told Newsday their two sons, 13 and 11, and daughter, nine, all needed hospital treatment for what is believed to have been the influenza virus.

Her eldest son was hospitalised on January 30 and was discharged on February 3. Her daughter was hospitalised on February 2 and was discharged on February 4. Her other son was treated and discharged on January 30. Her youngest, a three-year-old girl, was left in the care of her grandmother.

Candacy is expected to give birth in about two weeks and had had to be the sole parent of her other children during their ordeal since her husband went missing after the partial collapse of Rig 110, which he was working on.

"It was a little uncomfortable, but for the kids' sake I had to do it."

For those five nights, she slept in a hospital bed with her children. Hopes for their speedy recovery joined her daily prayers for her husband, who is presumed dead and whose body is yet to be recovered from the wreckage.

"If the father was alive, I would have been home relaxing and he would have taken over that (hospital stays)."

To make things easier for herself, she said, she was able to persuade medical staff to place her son and daughter in beds alongside each other so she could be with them both.

She said she only returned home during the day to pick up clothes.

"It was stressful, but I have no choice. I have to do it."

She said her sons returned to school on February 5 and her daughter on February 6.

Candacy is scheduled to deliver her baby on March 6 but said doctors expect this may happen sooner. She said the baby is expected in just over two weeks and she will be admitted to hospital on February 21.

This means she is likely to give birth before the search-and-recovery efforts for her husband resume.

In an update to the family about two weeks ago, Well Services Ltd said it expects to receive the necessary specialised equipment from abroad in the first two weeks of March.

The incident happened in the early hours of December 22 and search-and-rescue work began immediately. It switched from a rescue to recovery on December 26 after the company presumed Phillip was dead.

On January 9 the company said it had located the spot where they believed Phillip's body could be, but was unable to carry out a safe search because the collapsing rig was unstable. It then began procuring the special equipment.

On February 4 Phillip's brother Elvis and sister Paula Baxam condemned the company and called for a more expedited operation, to give them closure. They were not optimistic the company would keep the early March deadline to resume the task of search and recovery and doubted there would be much left of their brother to be recovered if it did.