14.04.2026

Fatal truck mount incident

Two men died, and another was injured when the boom of a 43 metre truck mounted platform failed while working on an apartment block in Sicily, Italy on Friday.

The three men had apparently been working for the past 15 days on the project, the refurbishment of a 10th-floor penthouse apartment in a suburb of Palermo, being carried out by the contractor Edil Tech Costruzioni. On Friday, April 10th, all three were reportedly in the platform of the Bizzocchi KJF 430W and working at a height of around 33 metres.

They had been installing plasterboard panels to the underside of the apartment’s long balcony and had just one corner panel left to place before they started plastering and painting.

The corner panel was located at the opposite end of the building to where the truck was set up, with its outriggers on one side set up on the pavement/sidewalk while the other side were in the road. It was set up on the street corner in order to avoid interfering with the tyre dealer located on the ground floor of the building.

At around 11:00, as the men telescoped the platform towards the installation point, when the third section of the boom buckled at its base, causing the platform to plummet into the tyre shop roof below.

Daniluc Tiberi, 50, and Najahi Jaleleddine, 41, are said to have died almost instantly, from the injuries they sustained, while the third man, Emanuele Parise, 35, was injured, possibly saved by landing on a stack of old tyres? According to local witnesses, none of them were wearing their harnesses at the time.

The lift had all four main boom sections fully extended, while the three section articulating jib was also fully extended at the time. The lift, rented from Agliuzza Sollevamenti, is mounted on a three axle Iveco chassis and has a platform capacity of 300kg. With three men plus panels and tools in the platform, it is possible that the lift was overloaded, especially at long reach when fully extended.

The investigation is being coordinated by the police and technicians from the ASP's Spresal - health & safety agency - coordinated by the Palermo Public Prosecutor's Office, to determine what happened. They will be looking into the maintenance status and condition of the platform, the use of PPE, and the men’s qualifications for working at height, among other things. The Prosecutor's Office will also consider whether there are grounds for a manslaughter charge against the contractor and or the owner of the apartment building.

According to some reports, the men were working without proper contracts and were not registered with Edilcassa, an organisation that protects and manages services for employees and businesses operating in the construction sector.
We will update if and when we learn more.

Finally, a big thank you to several of our Palermo based readers who sent valuable information and pictures from the scene.