Community rallies after 3rd TECO victim dies

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A third worker has now died from his injuries after last week’s accident at a TECO power plant.

Even with family and friends rallying around her, Tracy Jones knows when the party is over reality will back in.

Last Thursday's accident at TECO's Big Bend Power Plant left both her husband, Frank Lee Jones, and her son, Gary Marine Jr., fighting for their lives. Both suffered severe burns.

Frank, that's my rock," she said Thursday. "My son, I don't want people to forget about my son."

LINK: Support for families of TECO accident victims

She says she's been by their side at the hospital every day since the accident.

"Right now my life is at a standstill," she told FOX 13 News. "It's hard, I cry every day, but at the end of the day, I have to be strong."

LINK: Support for injured worker, Amando Perez

Both her husband and son worked for Gaffin Industrial - a contracting company in Riverview. Her husband had put in 27 years. Gary had just recently started.

The company's president, Mark Gaffin calls his company family-like. He organized a fundraiser at Alpha Pizza to benefit the Jones family and Chris Irvin's, who died last week.

"Chris was a phenomenal guy. Great, worked his butt off. We had more customers request Chris be there than just about anybody else," Gaffin said.

At the time, the workers were using a water-blaster to try and unclog a slag tank. That's when molten slag started spewing out. Three people died as a result. Most recently, 21-year-old Antonio Navarrete.

LINK: Support for Antonio Navarrete's family

Jones says, for her, the pain of two loved ones getting hurt is almost too much. She can't imagine what Navarrete's and the other families are feeling.

"I don't wish this on nobody nobody nobody. So that's all I gotta say," Jones said.

Antonio Navarrete, a contractor working at the Big Bend Power Station, passed away after being hospitalized for several days.

“Our heartfelt prayers and sympathy are extended to his family and friends as we keep our primary focus on supporting our employees and their families during this difficult time,” wrote a spokesperson for his employer, BRACE Industrial Group.

Two other workers died at the scene.