02.05.2008

Crane operator dies in crane collapse

A crane driver, Bebo Flores, 50, was killed this week when two crane booms came down dropping their 20 tonne load on his crane cab. It appears that his crane was one of the two larger lattice boomed crawlers tandem lifting a 20 tone vessel or tube to the vertical.

The accident occurred in at Gulf Coast Marine Fabricators, a 360-acre yard near Ingleside, Texas that builds large offshore oil platforms.

Reports on what happen vary, but it seems that part of the rigging spreadng the load between the two cranes, may have failed dropping the load and causing at least one crane boom to flip over backwards. Other reports suggest that the fault occurred in one of the crane booms.

Flores was trapped for more than two hours as other cranes were brought into place to remove the load. He was then airlifted to hospital. Two other workers were treated for minor injuries at the scene.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the accident.