Troels Sommerville/Stuff
The man died at the scene of the incident.
Workers desperately tried to free a construction foreman after he was run over and killed by his own van in South Auckland.
The man, who died at the scene of the crash on Frances St in Manurewa, was a senior foreman, project manager Vicky Sharma said.
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Sharma said the man, who was married with three adult children, was opening the gate to the construction site where six houses were being built when somehow he ended up underneath his own van.
“I don’t know what exactly happened or how but he was run over by his own van. Another worker saw it happen and rushed to rescue him and called 111.
“More workers arrived and they tried to lift the van off him, but they couldn’t.”
The man who was killed had been a very experienced foreman, Sharma said, who had worked for one of the subcontractors for around 15 years.
“He was a soft-spoken, lovely man – I still can’t believe what’s happened.”
Sharma said the van had been taken away by investigators and work on the site would be halted until after a funeral had been held.
Shortly after the incident happened a number of fire trucks and police cars were seen blocking the entrance to Frances St, where groups of construction workers were standing around outside, some of them visibly distressed.
A woman was sobbing and being comforted by people around her.
Police said they were called to the incident involving a vehicle and pedestrian at 7.54am.
“We extend our condolences to their family at this difficult time.
“WorkSafe has been advised and enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are underway,” the spokesperson said.
St John sent one ambulance and two rapid response vehicles to the scene.
Three fire appliances were sent to assist police with a “rescue”, a Fire and Emergency NZ spokesperson said.
A WorkSafe spokesperson confirmed they’d been notified of the fatal incident and were making initial inquiries.