A Cook Drilling oil rig from Trevose fell on Tuesday night in Philadelphia and trapped a man under its crane. According to Philadelphia Police and Cook Drilling, he died a short time later in a nearby hospital.
Police said the accident was reported at 9:12 p.m. in the 3100 block of Convention Avenue in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia.
“A 55-year-old Asian male victim was trapped under the crane for an unknown time. The Philadelphia Fire Department responded and was able to free the man. It was transported by the PFD-Medic Unit to Penn-Presbyterian Medical Center, where it was pronounced at 9.45pm, “police reported.
William Bell, Cook Drilling’s operations coordinator, said the crane operator was injured and treated and discharged from hospital. He declined to name the operator as the Labor Protection Agency and Philadelphia Police Department were conducting an investigation into the accident that could take six months to a year.
Philadelphia Fire Department communications director Kathy Matheson reported, “At around 9:15 pm on Tuesday, fire department engineering rescue companies rescued two people who were trapped after a construction vehicle overturned on a construction site in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia. Both people were taken care of by the ambulance service and taken to a nearby hospital. ”
“They were removing a piece of steel from a trailer,” when the accident happened, Bell said.
He said he believed it was the first fatal accident in the company’s over 65-year history. Bell said the operator is a union operator with 15 to 20 years of experience. He did not say how long the man had worked for the company on Oakford Avenue in the Trevose neighborhood of Bensalem.
Bell said the crane is being used on a SEPTA bridge project in University City.
