By VICKIE JAMBON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – A 52-year-old Alabama man working on a barge drowned Saturday night after falling overboard into the Mississippi River, said Information Officer Dane Clement with the St. John the Baptist Sheriff’s Office.

David Bruce Jordan, a contract worker from Mobile, Al. was working for CGB Marine when he fell from a company barge at 8:30 p.m.

Witnesses told authorities that Jordan panicked while currents in the river pulled him under the barge. They said Jordan drowned before efforts could be made to save him.

Jordan tripped on a deck cleat used to tie the barge to its dock at 665 River Road. This caused Jordan to lose his balance and to fall overboard, said Clement.

Jordan’s body was recovered from the river and examined by a medical technician.

The parish coroner pronounced Jordan dead at 11:30 p.m.