An industrial worker is in critical condition and two others are injured after being struck by several sheets of marble in South Auckland today.
The hired labourers were unloading a shipping container in Manurewa when disaster struck at about 11.45am
The three men working for a housing company were shifting heavy marble boards at the Biz Industrial Park in Manurewa when the stone toppled over.
Mohammad Faiyaz - a worker at a neighbouring business - heard a loud bang and rushed to help.
He said the men were buried by the fallen marble, and he could not see all three of them at first.
The container involved in the incident. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
"We were sitting here talking and we heard a big bang and then shouting after that, so we ran through and I saw one guy trapped, I didn't see the other two," Faiyaz said.
"The first guy that was trapped, he was quite severely injured so I went and assisted him and then when we started moving things, I saw the other guy in the middle and the last guy I didn't see him till the end."
The first man he saw was the most seriously injured, he was taken to Middlemore Hospital in critical condition.
"He was just bleeding everywhere, I think his skull was open, he was quite badly hurt so I went and assisted him, put some cloth on him to try and hold the blood and then we started moving the stuff so we could get the other guy out."
Debris at the site. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Faiyaz said they then freed the third man.
While he did not see the accident itself, Faiyaz said it looked like marble leaning against the side of the container fell on top of the men.
"The marble on the right hand side of the wall must have come onto them, they're lucky at the left hand side was still there, marble was still there, otherwise they would have been quite badly hurt."
Sowndra Palanisamy was also working nearby.
Although everyone ran to help, he said they did not know what to do.
"We don't know what happened. When we heard the sound we came out," he said.
"One guy looks like his head was opened, another two were laid down one was inside, it was all too heavy."
Hours after the accident, a pile of blood-stained marble remained at the scene.
A WorkSafe investigator arrived shortly after, and the agency confirmed it was making enquiries.
Another worker Mohammad Khan helped pull the men out from the heavy marble.
"I was inside my shop when we heard yelling from the container so me and my nephew, we just ran in to see what happened and then we saw the guys were trapped in because the marble stone fell across inside the container," he said.
"We tried to empty the container, they were trapped, so we broke the marble stones."
Hato Hone St John said four ambulances and three rapid response vehicles attended the scene.
The most severely injured man was taken to Middlemore Hospital in critical condition, alongside one of his colleagues with moderate injuries.
The third worker was treated at the scene and did not need to be taken to hospital.
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