Longshoreman Killed In Accident
SEATTLE - A longshoreman was fatally injured aboard a container ship being loaded at a Seattle terminal this morning.
A spokesman for the Port of Seattle said the worker died about 8:30 a.m. after being struck by the beam of a crane while loading provisions onto the President Harrison, owned by American President Lines at Terminal 5.
The accident effectively shut down much of the port because longshoremen all along the waterfront, as is the custom when fatalities occur, walked off the job.
Mic Dinsmore, executive director of the Port of Seattle, said the victim worked for a stevedoring company, Eagle Marine Services Ltd. of Seattle.
Dinsmore said the "lifting beam" that struck the worker weighs several tons. The accident is under investigation.
The death is the first at a port facility since 1986, when an electrician working on a ship died of a heart attack.