A Spartanburg man was killed while working in the Gulf of Mexico, performing maintenance on an oil rig, unrelated to the massive oil spill
On Friday night, Ping Hollifield received the worst news of her life.
She says, "My husband was the one diving and there was an explosion and he didn't make it."
Christopher Hollifield, her husband of just less than two years was killed, just one day before he was about to come home from a month long diving trip off the gulf coast.
She says, "If I could do it over, i would just have him do something else, but that was what he knew."
According to Veolia Environmental Services, Chris was working from the company's Normand clipper vessel at a depth of about 250 feet when what might have been an underwater explosion happened about 11:30 a-m on Friday.
Jonathan Holtzclaw, who is Chris' best friend and also a diver says, "We live in a hyperbolic habitat for four weeks at a time, which means we are pressurized to depths we are working."
Chris leaves behind his wife ping and also their unborn child.
Ping is six months pregnant.
Ping says, "He was so excited to be a daddy and he would have been such a great daddy."
Ping wishes she could say goodbye.
She adds, "There are so many things i wish i could say to him and do for him."
But she is picking up the pieces and moving forward and she knows a piece of her late husband will always be with her and his legacy will be carried on through her son's name, who she is naming tanner Christopher.
Veolia Environmental Services is investigating the cause of the explosion. Ping tells us a funeral will be held on Wednesday.
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