Abstract: At approximately 5:00 p.m. on August 14, 1987, Employee #1 and three coworkers were standing in 3 to 4 ft of water, preparing to shift a sunken dredger from its side to an upright position. Sand had previously been pumped away from the sides of the dredger, increasing the surrounding water depth from 3 to 4 ft to 10 to 11 ft. The employees had installed a block and tackle assembly in the water, secured to two different trees on the west river embankment and connected to points on the dredger assembly by two lines. They had also run two wire rope winch lines from two different bulldozers through a switch block to two other trees on the west embankment and attached them to a block and tackle out in the water. As the bulldozers began to winch in the cables, the employees at the north end of the dredger were holding up the wire rope to help guide it into position. When Employee #1 crossed the wire rope, he stepped or slipped off the sandy shallow into the area of water that was 10 to 11 ft deep. He yelled that he couldn't swim. A coworker grabbed Employee #1 twice but couldn't hold onto him. Employee #1 went under and drowned.