Two men died on Friday at the Besiktas Shipyard in Yalova Turkey - south east of Istanbul, when the platform of the telescopic boom lift they were using broke away from its connection point, dropping 16 to 18 metres to the dockside below.
The boom lift after the incident
The two men, Doğanay Kurt, 22, and Mehmet Kesik, 33, were using the lift, a four section telescopic with articulated jib, to repaint a ship at the yard when the incident occurred.
There are numerous photographs and video footage of the scene in which colleagues attempt to resuscitate the two men. Be warned they are a somewhat harrowing and add do not add a great deal apart from demonstrating how traumatic such incidents are, so we publish a link but have chosen not to embed the video. https://youtu.be/p4LLWWxlRBg?si=S5-x_qFuMblaNZc3
The platform connection point
The cause? Possibly a structural failure from previous overloading or missing connecting bolts etc.. either of which might have been picked up in a decent six monthly inspection – if bolts or missing connectors then that might/should have been picked up in a quick pre-use check.
We will naturally update this item if and when we learn more. We have contacted the shipyard for a comment.
Jeff at BattleFish
Shipyards are the most corrosive environment on equipment. No doubt just wore out equipment.