In Old City Harbour of Tallinn, last night a port employee perished having fallen between passenger ship and the berth.
Port worker dies falling between ship and berth in Tallinn
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9th February 2015, 15:57
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The accident happened in A-terminal area on berth No 12 where, due to breaking of gangway, an Old City Harbour passenger terminal operator fell into the water.
Pulled out of the water by colleagues, the man’s life could no longer be spared, Port of Tallinn press representative Sirle Arro told Postimees.
The details of the accident are being specified, police is investigating the incident.
The victim was 63 years of age and had been working at Port of Tallinn since 2008.
According to Ms Arro, construction works had been completed in the passenger gallery in question two weeks ago, during the which the gangway was replaced also.
«It cannot be excluded that the accident is related to construction works, this is being investigated. The gangway broke, but the reasons for that will be assessed by expert analysis. At the moment, it is not known whether it was an error by builder or a fault with the material. In high likelihood, it was no fault by the worker that perished. But, at the moment, we cannot establish or refute anything,» said Ms Arro.
The construction works finished two weeks ago were to lift the passenger gallery and have a new gangway installed so as to be able to receive the new Eckerö Line vessel with a door at higher level hardly reached by the old gangway.
The accident happened last night while Viking XPRS was mooring. As a rule, the Viking Line vessel will not berth there, but considering the strong winds it was deemed prudent in the port thus to act this time.
The gangway that broke has been repeatedly used after the construction works and, as affirmed by Ms Arro, there were no earlier signs of problems with the construction of it.
According to Northern rescue centre press representative, Alarm Centre got a phone call at 10:42 pm about an individual having fallen into the sea in Tallinn passenger port.
The port workers brought the man unto the shore and handed him over to Lilleküla commando rescue workers. The rescuers commenced to resuscitate the worker and proceeded to deliver him to the ambulance as it arrived. Regrettably, the man’s life could not be saved, Northern rescue centre press representative told Postimees.