The office of the Erie County Coroner is investigating a workplace death on a ship moored at Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair along the East Bayfront Parkway in Erie.
According to Coroner Lyell Cook, the incident happened at 4:52 a.m. Saturday on board American Integrity, a massive Great Lakes freighter that has wintered at Donjon for maintenance and repairs.
Coroner Cook said according to a preliminary investigation it appears that a worker, identified as 44-year-old Alfredo Arias from Alabama, fell a distance of 35 to 40 feet into one of the vessel’s forward holds.
Measuring 1,000 feet in length, American Integrity is one of the largest bulk cargo freighters on the Great Lakes, with multiple holds for ore or other cargo.
A deputy county coroner pronounced Arias dead at the scene of the incident on Saturday morning. Coroner Cook said Arias suffered multiple blunt force trauma in the fall.
“An autopsy is scheduled for Monday,” Coroner Cook said, adding, “toxicology tests will be part of the death investigation as well.”
Erie Police Department detectives were notified of the fatality at Donjon, but according to officials will not be part of the investigation, unless there is any indication of foul play.