FORWARD TOWNSHIP - A 25-year-old Donora railroad yard worker died Monday in what a company spokeswoman called "a tragic accident."
Timothy Bradshaw, who had worked for Mon River Transloading Inc. on Bunola River Road for about five years, was pronounced dead at the scene of the mid-morning accident.
Mon River Transloading, owned by Matt Canestrale Contracting, loads and unloads river barges.
According to Forward Township police, the accident took place shortly before 10 a.m.
Bradshaw apparently was standing on a railroad car on the brake platform when he hit his head on part of a wooden crane platform and fell 15 feet on to the side of the railroad tracks.
Bradshaw was working in the area where railroad cars are cleaned and stored.
Police said Bradshaw apparently was distracted and struck his head on the platform, which is a foot higher than the top of the railroad car.
Bradshaw had been standing on the platform, which is located on the edge of the car. Police said a wheel is located on the platform to help brake the car.
Police said Bradshaw was helping to move the railroad car underneath an A-frame platform used for the crane when his head hit the wooden beam.
An employee working nearby performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but could not revive the fallen worker. Paramedics also could not revive him.
A company spokeswoman who would not give her name said, "We are all devastated by this."
The company is located near Molnar's Marina along the Monongahela River.
Members of the media were kept about a third of a mile from the accident site most of the afternoon as police investigators and officials from the Allegheny County Coroner's office and the county forensics unit worked at the scene.
An autopsy will be conducted today, a coroner's office spokesman said. Bradshaw was the son of William and Angie Bradshaw, of Donora.
Canestrale's Contracting did not return phone calls this morning.
