NS worker falls through bridge

Cleveland August 26

Lake Erie Marine Towing recovers a lot of things from the water.

"Planes, cars, boats, burnt boats, " laughs Capt. Greg Stark.

Never has a rescue job literally fallen right in front of them.

A worker from Norfolk Southern Railroad was fixing and replacing railway ties when the grate beneath him seemed to break off the platform.

“We just heard a loud crash and next thing we knew we see a gentleman fall in between the two bridges into the water,” says Capt. Jeff Lamarca.

The men of Lake Erie Marine Towing were under the bridge doing recovery work for the railroad, searching with a dive team for a railway tie that fell into the water.

The worker was reportedly in great pain and struggling to keep his head above water. The towing company’s diver helped the man get to a life ring and then called for medical help. The rescuers say the man suffered a shoulder injury.

Norfolk Southern says it is looking into what happened. The towing company did recover the fallen grate from the water.

…Sounds like there were plenty of reasons for the man to get hurt or worse…Sounds like he was lucky, first that the boat was nearby and people could get to him quickly and 2nd…that he didn’t hit the boat on the way down, or the steel grate hit him on the way down.