Georgia: law enforcers and trade unions investigate worker's death in Poti Port

At Berth 4 of Poti Port, a cargo container fell down and killed a 45-year-old worker. The Occupational Safety Division of the Association of Trade Unions of Georgia is investigating the accident trying to reveal those guilty persons, said Gocha Alexandriya, the spokesman of the Association. The official investigation says that the versions of safety violations and negligence are studied.

The incident that killed the worker occurred on May 27. According trade union officials of the Poti Port, at work of Berth 4, a rope of a tower crane that was carrying a container weighing several tons broke.

"The tragedy happened in the evening on May 27. An ambulance doctors could not save Albert Kvinchiya, and he died from received traumas," Gocha Cheminava, the head of the trade union of the port, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Berth 4, where there the accident happened, is rented from the port by the "Metalliks" Company; and the Division for Labour Safety of the Trade Union Association is currently trying to establish who is guilty of the accident - the bosses of the port or the top managers of the "Metalliks," said Gocha Alexandriya, Deputy Chairman of the Trade Union Association of Georgia.

"In any case, the employer is responsible for the tragedy; and we insist that the family of the deceased Albert Kvinchiya should receive the due compensation," Mr Alexandriya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Gocha Alexandriya has noted that the issue of safety in the Poti Port was raised earlier; and the strikes held by port workers demanded not only higher wages, but also safer labour conditions.