ILA Black Friday: Two Members Killed in Accidents in Philadelphia and Newark |
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| 8/12/2011 |
Two tragic deaths occurred on Friday, August 12th taking the lives of two ILA members. Carmen "Chuckie" DiRago, a member of ILA 1291, was killed in an accident at Packer Marine Terminal in the Port of Philadelphia and Don D'Elia, a member of ILA Local 1804-1, died while working at Maher Terminals in Port Newark.
"Our family of ILA members suffered a double tragedy today," said ILA President Harold Daggett. "We extend our condolences to the DiRago and D'Elia families and offer our prayers, our love and our support to help everyone get through these terrible incidents."
ILA President Daggett ordered George Lynch, an ILA safety director, to launch a full investigation into these accidental deaths.
"These deaths of our two ILA beloved Brothers demonstrates why we must be vigilant with safety and put it at the top of priority list," said President Daggett. "It's why the ILA wants top level training, why we want accurate container weight measurements. Brother DiRago and Brother D'Elia's deaths will not be in vain and, in their memory and inspired by them, we will work to make certain these accidents don't happen again."
Following the accident at Maher Terminals involving Brother D'Elia, Atlantic Coast District President Dennis Daggett ordered the terminal closed pending investigation.
"The Maher company was very cooperative and just as devastated as we were over this tragedy," said ACD President Daggett, who at one time was the ILA's Safety Director and noted that Brother D'Elia was a member of his local 1804-1.
In Philadelphia, a number of ILA members there posted sympathy messages on the ILA Facebook page noting how beloved Brother DiRago was to his fellow ILA members.
On Saturday, ILA Safety Director George Lynch was making contact with the DiRago and Dilia families offering them counseling and support.
"It's an extremely difficult time for these families," Lynch said. "We want to make certain they know they have the ILA's full support to help them."