Two dockworkers have been
killed during separate incidents on the same day in Seattle. At the Port of Seattle,
a forklift driver working at Terminal 18 on Harbor Island died after he was accidentally
crushed between a forklift and a container on May 17, according to the Washington
Dept. of Labor and Industries.
The terminal was later shut
down for about 24 hours by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union following
the death of the man, who was later identified as Paul A. Stuart, 61, by the King
County Medical Office.
On the same day as Stuart’s
death, a man performing pressure washing on a large commercial fishing boat tied
to a dock at the Port of Seattle’s Maritime Industrial Center began having breathing
trouble and collapsed on the ship’s walkway.
The man, who was later identified
as Francisco J. Montes-Lopez, was pronounced dead after paramedics who arrived on
the scene couldn’t revive him. Seattle police and the federal Occupational Safety
and Health Administration say they are investigating the cause and manner of Montes-Lopez’s
death, and that it may have involved carbon monoxide poisoning.
