03:10 PM CDT on Friday, April 8, 2005

By Chau Nguyen / 11 News

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Federal investigators finally got their first look at the blast site at the BP Texas City plant Friday.

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Glen Alexander holds his wife's watch which still shows the exact time of the explosion that took her life.

Meanwhile, one witness has come forward with an account of what happened inside the plant the day it exploded. The victim survived, but his wife, Lori Cruz, did not.

The grieving husband shared his ordeal only with 11 News.

"This is all I have left to remember her by," says Glen Alexander. He has the engagement ring he gave his wife 16 years ago and the watch she wore the day she died. The time on the watch still shows exactly when the blast took place.

Alexander showed us his wife's jewelry recovered from the scene of the blast and shared his pain, Friday.

It was an explosion that Alexander would survive, but his wife Lori Cruz would not. Cruz was meeting with other workers inside a trailer located near the blast. Alexander, also a contractor with BP, watched the explosion helplessly from a distance.

"I hesitated and said the trailer is gone, it's no longer. I knew that Lori and everybody in that trailer had perished," he said.

Attorney Robert Kwok represents Alexander in a negligence lawsuit he's filed against BP. Kwok says Cruz and others should have at least been told to leave their trailer in the moments leading up to the explosion when the isomerization unit was restarted after being shut down for maintenance.

"Why was it so close to the isom unit? We need to find the answer to that," says Kwok. "You don't start up a unit and have trailers containing people that close to it."

Lori Cruz was wrapping up an eight-month contract with BP. Friday would have been her last day at the refinery.

"She's my pride and joy," says Alexander.

Glen Alexander looked forward to a lifetime with his wife. Now he just wants answers.

Investigators observed six to 10 demolished trailers and about 30 cars and trucks while inside the blast site Friday. There have been witness reports that a truck was idling at the time of the blast, but investigators say they were unable to identify that specific truck.