Hakan Yakisan was working as a plasterer on a building site when the steel cable of a cargo lift snapped and crushed him, with his workmates unable to save him before help arrived
A family has been left in mourning after a father died in a tragic workplace freak accident. The father of three is set to have his funeral today after he lost his life while on the job, while a massive investigation is underway by the authorities.
Hakan Yakisan, 46, was a professional plasterer, and was working on a building site at the time of his death on May 12. The dad was caught under a cargo lift, which fell on top of him while dangling above and crushed him. The heavy lift was used to hoist bricks up to the higher floors on the site, but its steel cable snapped and killed him instantly when the weight hit.
Other builders on the site in Aybasti, Turkey, rushed to try to save Yakisan from beneath the equipment, but the heavy lift couldn’t be moved from man power alone.
Paramedics responded to the scene, but declared Yakisan dead before they reached the local Aybasti State Hospital. The plasterer underwent an autopsy, with his body returned to his bereaved family for the planned funeral today.
Now, Turkish police and figures from the Ministry of Labour are investigating the incident, and trying to figure out how the steel cable of the cargo lift snapped to take Yakisan’s life. The outlet reports that building sites in Turkey are incredibly dangerous, with 152 workers dying on the job in April alone.
While Turkey might have a particular issue with unsafe building sites, a very similar case occurred in the UK when a mother – completely unattached to any building work – was caught in tragedy in east London.
In March 2018, Michaela Boor was walking past a construction site on Burdett Road in Bethnal Green when she was killed on the pavement. A pallet containing more than two tonnes of bricks fell 70ft from a crane and landed on the young mum, who was just 28 at the time.
Other Londoners who saw the incident gave her CPR to keep her alive until the air ambulance arrived and rushed her to hospital. Despite the care, Boor died just two days later after her 29th birthday had passed.
Years later, the building company and four men have been charged with manslaughter, and are due at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 16.
The Metropolitan Police said Higgins Homes Plc, a construction company that develops and builds properties across London and the south east, was charged by postal requisition on Wednesday, May 7.
Crane operator McInnes and site manager Anstis were charged on May 8, while crane supervisor Maan and Coulson, who was responsible for compiling the lifting plan for the site, were charged on April 30.
Malcolm McHaffie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime division, said in part of a statement: “Higgins Homes Plc has been charged with corporate manslaughter and a Health and Safety at Work Act offence, while Thomas Anstis, 68, Stephen Coulson, 68, Dawood Mann, 59, and Alexander McInnes 32, have each been charged with a single count of gross negligence manslaughter and offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.”