Man dies after docklands accident

A MAN died after an accident at the Port of Cork’s container facility in Tivoli yesterday.

The death was the second fatal tragedy at the city’s docklands this week.

At lunchtime yesterday, Damien Crowley, 30, from Togher in Cork city, was working on a trailer to lift a piece of machinery onto his vehicle.

It is believed that a possible hydraulic failure may have caused part of the lifting equipment to fall, trapping him underneath.

Emergency services were called to the scene, including three units of Cork City fire service which helped release him. The victim was taken by ambulance to the South Infirmary-Victoria Hospital, but he died from his injuries.

Two other men were brought to Cork University Hospital, one of whom later discharged himself. The other man was reported to be in a stable condition yesterday evening.

The incident is now being investigated by the Health and Safety Authority, whose inspectors visited the site yesterday afternoon. The scene was also sealed off for technical examination by gardaí investigating the matter.

The Port of Cork company was not reachable for comment on the incident yesterday evening. However, it is understood the victim was not an employee and the equipment was not owned by the port company.

In another fatal docklands incident on Wednesday, a man in his 40s was killed in a privately owned compound of the port facility at Tivoli Docks. It is believed that David McCormack, originally from Swords, Co Dublin, but who lived in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork, was caught between a truck and his own cab which he was trying to link up with a trailer.