- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Pramod Thomas
A man was killed and another injured in an accident at a construction site in the University City section of Philadelphia, authorities said.
The deceased was identified as Kirankumar Mistry, 55, who was working on-site for another contractor when the accident happened at Bucks County-based Cook Drilling on Tuesday (6) night.
Officials said that heavy equipment was being moved off a tractor-trailer to a work site when a drilling rig being used to lift equipment fell. They added that it took about 15 minutes to extricate Mistry.
According to reports, Mistry was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The rig operator was also injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.
Cook Drilling said the operator has been on the job for 20 years, but has only been employed with them for a few months.
He suffered injuries to his hand and lower body. Cook Drilling says the operator is coherent but is in a “state of shock.”
The rig fell away from the building, so no property was damaged and the area at the time was free of passersby, reports added.
“It’s fortunate that it was this time of the evening where this is a high traffic area during the day and it could have been a lot more potential for danger to many folks, but still there were two individuals who were hurt here so that’s still tragic,” Philadelphia Assistant Fire Chief Charles Walker said.
Firefighters said there was a fuel leak from the equipment. Later, the rig was broken down into pieces and removed from the scene.
According to Cook Drilling, it was the first fatal accident since it started operation in 1955.
