MANNS HARBOR, N.C. (WAVY) — The person who died in a construction accident on the old Bonner Bridge in Oregon Inlet Wednesday was a 42-year-old man from Mann’s Harbor.
According to an online obituary, the man was identified as Jose Armando Maqueda Mejia (El Guero).
The obituary says Mejia died doing to work he loved. He had been working on bridges since he was 20 years old, just two years after he moved to the United States from Mexico.
Mejia moved to Manns Harbor with his uncle Pablo Mejia Ocampo in 1999. There, he met his wife and started a family.
The obituary reads: “Armando was a dedicated dad, husband, son, brother, cousin, nephew, brother-in-law, son-in-law, and friend. He always had a smile on his face that could light up a room and if you needed him, he would stop what he was doing to help, even if it was to give you the shirt off his back. He was known among many as the shrimp man and shared a love of soccer with his soccer brothers. He was always working, whether on a bridge, welding something for someone, fixing a car or building something. His void is greatly felt throughout the community.”
The accident on the Bonner Bridge happened Wednesday afternoon at the old span of the bridge.
Workers were dismantling a section of the old Bonner Bridge when that section fell about 110 feet into Oregon Inlet.
The Bonner Bridge was replaced by the Marc Basnight Bridge back in 2019, which runs adjacent to the old bridge.
