VA Longshoreman Crushed Under Cargo Container

Portsmouth, VA - July 13, 2007. A 42 year-old marine cargo handling worker was killed instantly, when a 40 foot intermodal cargo container being lowered from ship to shore was landed upon him. Vernon Leroy White, a seasoned longshoreman, had just disembarked the Indian-flagged container vessel SCI KIRAN on his lunch break. From the gangway, he walked underneath the main inboard horizontal (sill) beam of a large rail-mounted container gantry crane and onto the terminal's apron, whereupon the cargo container was lowered upon him. Signalmen (spotters), it is theorized, had their line of sight to Mr. White obscured by a container that had been previously discharged from the ship and was awaiting removal. It has been reported that Mr. White's father, also a longshoreman, was working aboard the ship at the time of the accident.