Last month we reported that a crude oil explosion had occurred in the village of Shipyard Orange Walk due to a mechanical malfunction. Though no one was killed in that incident, we were informed that a man had died on Saturday in another accident involving a crude oil tanker - right in Shipyard. Jomarie Lanza reports
What would have been just another regular heavy duty job for 25 year old Peter Reimer in Shipyard, quickly turned into a freak accident that ended his life. On Saturday afternoon, his hoisting rig experienced a mechanical failure while sandblasting a 15000 gallon crude oil tanker. His brother in law Johan Schimitt explained what happened, and how Reimer was crushed and became trapped underneath the massive tank.
Johan Schmitt, Brother in Law of Deceased
"Well I was saying that on Saturday just after midday, his boss had sent him to sandblast a big tank. He had the tank raised in the air and was sandblasting underneath and had finished the job but realized that he had missed a part so he went back underneath. All of a sudden the tank fell on him and ended his life."
Reporter-
"Do you know more or less what happened or what caused it to fall?"
Johan Schmitt, Brother in Law of Deceased
"A hose had gotten loose from the track but normally this doesn't happen. It has a valve that shouldnt allow it to fall but in that moment it did."
Desperate attempts were made to get Reimer out from under the tank, but by the time his coworkers managed to get a forklift to raise the tank, his body, face and limbs had been crushed from the impact and he was struggling to breathe.
Rogelio Dominguez, Co-worker
"He had lifted the tank 7 feet in the air with the sky track and got straight to work underneath. He was almost finished when the hose got loose and the tank came down straight on top of him. He let out a single scream and I ran to help him and tried to use a stick to lift up the edge of the tank but couldn't. I got up and turned off the sandblast and other machine, and my wife who was there at the moment ran over to Mr Dick's close by and got him to come over with his forklift and that's how we managed to lift it up and pull him out. When we pulled him out he was breathing just a little but when we got to the hospital his chest was crushed in, his arm was broken even his face because he was on the ground. His back was on the ground and he was lying face up under the tank. We tried to move quickly with him once we got a pick up truck here but we just couldn't do anything for him."
Reimer leaves behind a 4 year old and 6 month old son
