Grindrod employee killed by truck while trying to jump-start it

A 57-year-old Grindrod Namibia Stevedoring employee was knocked down and killed by an import truck that he and colleagues were trying to jump-start at the start of the weekend, Informante has reported.

The employee, identified as Moses Uiseb, lost his life during an accident while busy offloading vehicles from a ship that docked in the Port of Walvis Bay.

According to the incident report provided by the Namibian Police in the Erongo Region, Uiseb and his two colleagues were busy jump-starting an imported truck that was offloaded from a vessel that docked in the harbour.

The deceased person was using a big truck battery to jump the vehicle’s battery while one of his colleagues was behind the wheel turning the key in the ignition.

It is suspected that the gearbox of the vehicle was not set to neutral and when the engine suddenly started it jumped forward, knocked down the deceased and running over him.

Paramedics were called to assist the injured man but he unfortunately passed on before ambulance personnel arrived.

He was declared dead at the scene.

The incident occurred at around 08:30 on Friday along Berth Number One.

According to Tino !Hanabeb, Executive: Commercial at Namport, employees of the port authority assisted by the Stevedoring employees immediately raised the alarm and tried to aid the deceased person.

!Hanabeb said operations at the quay had to be discontinued for about 12 hours to allow for investigations and trauma counselling of the affected parties.

According to the Nampol incident report, the man behind the wheel of the truck was arrested and will appear in the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

He is facing charges of reckless and negligent driving and driving a motor vehicle without a driving licence.