Two men lost their lives on Saturday December 6th, when a container crane pushed over the self-propelled boom lift they were working from at a railway container yard in Cologne, Germany.
The two men, one 64 and the other 83, were carrying out maintenance work at the Eifeltor freight yard at the time. They were working from the platform of a 66ft JLG telescopic boom lift from the Mobilift rental fleet and were at a height of around 16 to 17 metres, when the mobile gantry crane struck it, flipping it over.
The 83 year old died at the scene, while the younger man died that evening in hospital, three work colleagues were also taken to hospital suffering from shock.
It seems that the man who operated the container crane, 32, was unaware that the boom lift was working in the vicinity. Once source said that the lift was actually working on the crane when the operator set it in motion. However, we have not been able to confirm this.
A joint investigation with the police and safety authorities is ongoing, and if some of the reports are correct, the crane operator may be charged with culpable homicide.
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