Police have released the names of two men who were killed after a crane collapsed at a construction site in Crewe.

David Newall, 36, from Bradford and Rhys Barker, 18, from Castleford, were working on the site in Dunwoody Way when the crane collapsed on Wednesday, 21 June. Both men died at the scene.

A third man, David Webb (45), was also working on the crane and he was taken to hospital with serious injuries. He remains in a stable condition.

Police said post mortems revealed the victims died from crush injuries. An investigation into the incident is now underway in partnership with the Health and Safety Executive.


Falcon Tower Crane Services Ltd, the company which all three men worked for, said in a statement: "Rhys Barker and David Newall were highly regarded and popular members of our staff. Their deaths were untimely and deeply regretted by all their friends and colleagues who wish to express their deepest and sincere condolences to their family and friends. Our thoughts go out to their families whose welfare is uppermost at this difficult time.

"We also share our deepest concern for those who were injured and we wish David Webb a speedy and complete recovery.

"We consider health and safety to be of paramount importance and we have taken every step to ensure that all procedures are conducted as safely and efficiently as possible.

"We will leave no stone unturned to establish what went wrong and we will co-operate fully with all authorities to understand fully the causes of this tragic accident and to learn all safety lessons to be sure that safety remains of paramount importance."

(LM/MH)