Firefighters pulled a man from the hull of a large cargo vessel docked at the international port in Falls Township Friday afternoon.
Authorities say the victim, who was middle-aged man, fell about 20 to 25 feet into the hull of a cargo ship that is set for an overseas port filled with scrap metal. The man was reportedly leaning over the open hull when he fell.
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Medics from the Morrisville Ambulance Squad rushed the man to Trenton’s Capital Health Systems trauma center with upper body and head injuries
Fire crews from several companies worked together using a stokes basket, which is specialized for technical rescue operations, to get the man from inside the ship, Falls Township Fire Company Chief Mike McClellan said. He added firefighters went down to the man to check on his condition and then used a on-board crane to lift the stokes basket out.
Falls police Lt. Hank Ward said the man was conscious and awake when he was evaluated at the scene.
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“You really don’t want to mess around down there,” McClellan said while describing the scrap metal that was strewn about.
The chief praised the firefighters for their professional work during the roughly hour-long deployment.
Volunteers from the Edgley, Fairless Hills, Levittown 1 and Tullytown assisted Falls Township firefighters.
