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Worker injured at Port of Seattle

June 6, 2005

A worker at the Port of Seattle was nearly crushed overnight Wednesday by a 30-ton piece of metal at Terminal 46, just south of Colman Dock.

The accident happened around midnight at the busy port. A crane operator lifting a 60-ft., 60,000 pound piece of metal off a container ship accidentally put it on top of a pickup truck with another worker inside it, said port officials.

"The vehicle was completely obstructed as he was lowering it down," said Bryan Hastings, Seattle Fire Battalion Chief.

"It lowered right on top of the car. Some dock workers alerted the crane operator and he was able to fully pull it back off before it completely crushed the vehicle," he said.

The worker in the pickup was said to be a dock foreman at the port. Firefighters said he was lucky the huge slab of steel did not crush the cab of the truck where he was sitting.

"We used our hydraulic heavy equipment tools to cut the roof off, cut the doors off, stabilize the car and be able to extricate the victim onto a backboard and have the medics evaluate and treat him," said Hastings.

The worker suffered minor injuries. Authorities were investigating how the accident happened.