Longshore Worker Succumbs to Injuries Sustained in Earlier Shipboard Accident [Camden, New Jersey – 07 September 2021]

Posted by admin on Sep 9, 2021 in Bulletins

With great regret, this morning Blueoceana Company was alerted to a serious accident which occurred in late March of this year and which turned fatal this past Tuesday.

Through a friend in a position to know, we’re made to understand that on March 26th of this year ILA member Mr. Preston Pratt (See photos above and below) was woking as a holdman aboard one of the Clipper Steel Services ships docked at the Balzano Terminal in Camden, NJ. We’re told that he was on the payroll of Delaware River Stevedores (DRS).

We’re further informed that his gang was working a cargo of corrugated sheet steel, and when the crane operator hoisted a sling assembly out of the hold, a hook at the end of one of the sling’s legs got caught under a stowed draft. The crane operator may or may not have noticed that fouling, and continued to hoist.

The sling leg experienced continuing tension and finally came away: striking Mr. Pratt in the head and neck. He was rushed to a local hospital, eventually becoming dependent upon life support equipment. On Tuesday of this week (07 September) that support was apparently withdrawn and Mr. Pratt expired.