APM terminal in Portsmouth, VA
A worker at APM Terminals in Portsmouth,VA, died Monday morning of injuries she sustained in an accident involving a forklift.
Police spokeswoman Jan Westerbeck said the longshoreman, Paula Bellamy, 38, of Portsmouth, was pronounced dead less than an hour after being struck by a forklift on the waterfront.
Bellamy was standing on the pier and using a radio to guide a crane operator when a forklift driver nearby picked up steel bins, likely used for collecting locking pins removed from cargo containers as they come off ships. The driver’s vision was obstructed by the bins carried on the front of his vehicle, according to police.
Bellamy is the seventh person to die in industrial accidents at Virginia’s marine terminals since 2005.