On July 18, a Philippine crewmember died, after falling from 60 feet into an empty hold on board the bulker Ilektra, at Port of Savona, Italy. When the incident happened, the victim was conducting maintenance works above the hold, local authorities inform, and as a result he was killed instantly.
Due to the accident, Port of Savona’s operation has been suspended until 14.00 hours on July 19, according to local media.
After the fatal accident, three Italian transport unions began a series of strikes to protest. They denounced the accident, saying that it is the eighth since the beginning of the year, and this is no longer acceptable. For this reason, Fabrizio Castellani, secretary of the union CGIL, informed that as a first initiative, they have proclaimed 24 hours of dockers’ strike throughout the port of Savona.
What is more, CGIL along with the unions CISL and Uiltrasporti, called for a safety roundtable to come up with better prevention measures, while they did not excluded additional industrial action if it is necessary.
Savona’s mayor expressed solidarity with the victim’s family, and he warned that workplace fatalities are becoming all too common in Italy, despite stringent regulations. M5S party regional councilor Andrea Melis called on “interested parties to take action to implement controls, so that events like this are no longer repeated.”
The Ilektra is a 2017-built geared bulker owned and operated by a Greek company. She is flagged in Liberia.
