According to police spokesman Markus Dittrich, a 65-year-old boss of a sub-contractor working on a construction site in Erlaaer Strasse and a 35-year-old employee were working around 8 a.m. in a basket about five meters high. The basket was attached to the fork of a forklift. The workers may have both moved to one side of the basket.
As a result, the basket apparently tipped over, the two men fell out and crashed into the street. The basket also detached from the fork and hit the accident victims. The Vienna professional rescue service, the Green Cross and the professional fire brigade were still trying to resuscitate the two. But that was unsuccessful, the men were too badly injured.
It was initially unclear whether the fall or the basket were ultimately responsible for the death of the two. The Labor Inspectorate was informed of the accident. Another open question was whether and how well the basket was attached to the forklift. The statement made by the forklift driver should be interesting in this context.
