BOISE, Idaho — *The interview was conducted in Spanish and was translated into English*
For the first time, KTVB heard from a family member mourning the loss of his nephew, 24-year-old Mariano Coc Och.
“We found out through WhatsApp that he had lost his life," Mariano's uncle Emilio Tec said.
As previously reported, the Ada County Coroner's Office identified Mariano as one of the three men who lost their lives after the privately-owned jet hangar collapsed on Wednesday, Jan. 31, on Boise Airport property.
“We are grieving the loss of his life,” Emilio said.
Emilio said his nephew is from Guatemala and had been living in Nampa for about a year and was chasing the "American Dream."
"First of all, he is from Guatemala. There is no work here. He decided to go there to pursue his dream to support his family,” Emilio said.
Emilio said Mariano has family in Guatemala, including his daughter. The family is now raising money to send Mariano’s body back to Guatemala.
The other men killed in the collapse were identified by the coroner as Craig Durrant, 59, and Mario Sontay Tzi, 32. Nine other people were injured in the incident. The Boise Fire Department said five of the nine are in critical condition.
According to Idaho Secretary of State records, Big D Builders, Inc. has been operating in business in the Treasure Valley since 1996 and were the contractors working on this building. The jet hangar was located at West Rickenbacker Street and Luke Street and, according to building permits, it was made of pre-engineered steel.
Inland Crane was hired to assist Big D Builders in the building construction. According to a statement from Jeremy Haener, Vice President of Inland Crane, a crane was working to place an end truss when the hangar collapsed "due to an unknown structural failure."
Haener said the crane boom snapped on impact. Inland Crane originally had four cranes at the location to build the hangar, but the steel erection contractor requested for three of the cranes to be removed with a majority of the work done by Wednesday, Jan. 31.
Additional updates on the cause of the hangar collapse and future plans for the site will come from representatives with OSHA.
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