Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Dock worker who died on board ship named


A MAN who was killed while working on a boat on Immingham Docks has been named by colleagues as 28-year-old Tim Elton.
Mr Elton was working on board the MV Excalibur – which was berthed at Humber International Terminal Two – when it is believed that a heap of coal collapsed on top of him in the hull at about 1.30pm on Friday afternoon.
Despite co-workers' best efforts to free him, Mr Elton tragically died and investigations are now underway to establish what happened.
Mr Elton is believed to originate from London but had been living in Immingham for a number of years.
One of his colleagues, who did not wish to be named, has described how the horrific incident unfolded.
He said: "I was working on Terminal One in the afternoon when I saw my foreman running across the quay towards Terminal Two.
"Then I saw them getting the mining cage out and I knew it must be something quite serious. The cage is used to lift people out of the boats in an emergency so I assumed somebody had broken their leg or something.
"Three or four fire engines turned up, followed by ambulances, police cars and two helicopters, which both landed on the quayside.
"It came over the radio that there had been a fatality and everyone stopped working.
"Workers were trying to dig him out with their hands and then they tried using an excavator as well.
"The atmosphere down there was just horrible."
Mr Elton did not regularly work moving coal and was best known as "Thermo Tim" for his role checking the temperature of coal heaps.
A spokesperson for the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) said investigations are continuing into the cause of Mr Elton's death.
Officers from Humberside Police have now passed responsibility for the investigation to the HSE and is preparing a file for the coroner.
An inquest into his death will be opened when a post mortem examination has been carried out and a cause of death has been established.
source: thisisgrimsby.co.uk
Respects can be made via the thisisgrimsby.co.uk website


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