VENTURA : Oil Worker Dies as Truck Goes Off Road
An oil worker from Ventura drove off a private road west of Valencia and plunged down a steep hillside to his death, authorities said.
Adolph Gaeta had been contracted by Exxon Corp. to work on oil wells and pumps on company property near the Magic Mountain amusement park, California Highway Patrol officials said.
Gaeta, 46, was driving a pickup truck Tuesday on a paved road toward the pumps at 1:15 p.m. when he plunged about 300 feet down the hill, Officer David Pokorny said. Gaeta, a foreman for Ojai-based C.D. Lyon Inc., was thrown from the vehicle and crushed when it rolled atop him.
Rescue workers rushed Gaeta to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, Pokorny said. Gaeta was not wearing a seat belt.
Officers did not know why Gaeta veered off the road. They found no witnesses to the accident, Pokorny said.
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