21.05.2014

Crushing fatality in Australia

A man died earlier today after he was crushed between the platform of the boom lift he was using and an overhead beam on a coal crusher he was helping to assemble at the Boggabri mine to the North West of Newcastle.

The emergency services report that the man, Mark Galton, 50, suffered traumatic head and neck injuries causing him to go into a traumatic cardiac arrest. He was declared dead at the scene. The mine is owned by Idemitsu Kosan, which suspended operations for at least two days.

The new coal crusher is part of a $186 million investment by joint venture Thiess-Sedgman and is intended to increase output at the mine by around two million tonnes a year and is due for completion by mid next year.

A mine safety Investigation team has arrived on site to investigate the incident.