Austin Eugene Furner dies in dredging accident on Eagles Island
A man was killed when the amphibious excavator he was operating on Eagles Island near Wilmington overturned and sank in the Cape Fear River Monday morning, trapping him.
The deceased man was identified as Austin Eugene Furner, 26, of Carolina Beach, according to Emily Flax of the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO), which is leading the death investigation.
Flax said the BCSO concluded Furner’s death was an accident.
According to numerous Facebook posts from family and friends reacting to his death, Furner was a former U.S. Marine who was married with three young sons. A GoFundMe page benefiting Furner’s family described him as “the glue that held our family together.”
Multiple agencies responded to the incident, including the Leland Fire/Rescue Department.
“By the time we got there, (the excavator) was already submerged in the river,” said Buddy Brooks, chief of Leland Fire and Emergency Services.
Brooks added that a dive team had to wait until the excavator could be stabilized. It was only after dark that the dive team was able to recover Furner’s body, Brooks said.
Flax said Furner’s body was recovered around 10 p.m. Monday.
Dave Connolly, public information director for the Wilmington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Furner worked for a company called Rigid Constructors, which contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do work on a piece of land on Eagles Island owned by the Corps. The work includes maintaining an area used to dispose of material dredged from the river near the Port of Wilmington.
Connolly said Furner was “out” carrying out work involving some pipe laying when the accident occurred.
In an email, Erin Wilson, communications director for the North Carolina Department of Labor, wrote that the “Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Division has opened an investigation into this fatality. That is all the information we can provide at this time.”
