Brothers Among Men Killed In Work Accident

23 January 2011, 08:22 | Updated: 23 January 2011, 22:10

Four men, including two brothers, who were killed in an accident at their work in Yarmouth all came from the same area of Suffolk.

The men had been working at the site of offshore engineering company Claxton Engineering in North River Road in Great Yarmouth.

Building work was being carried out by external contractors at the premises where the accident happened at around 2pm on Friday, the firm said.

The men who were killed have been named as 30-year-old Dan Hazelton and his brother 26-year-old Tom Hazelton and 42-year-old Peter Johnson all from Stanton, near Bury St Edmunds, as well as 28-year-old Adam Taylor who lived close by.

A Norfolk Police spokesman said: "Their families are currently being supported by specialist police officers."

Reports suggested a steel structure may have collapsed on the men as foundation works were carried out.

Organisers of two local football clubs said they had cancelled their matches yesterday in the wake of the tragedy.

Mike Powles, chairman of Walsham le Willows FC said: "Two of the lads used to play for us. It's a real community where everyone knows everyone else.

We called the games off as a mark of respect and we understand Stanton have done the same."

Rev David Messer, of All Saints Church in Stanton, said yesterday that the church had been kept open today for those wishing to attend and he said the men would be remembered during the Sunday service.

He said: "It has hit many people in the village quite hard. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will be having our church service as normal, offering prayers and support for the loss of the young men and their families.''

A joint inquiry has been launched by Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Further assessment of the site was carried out today by police and health and safety investigators.

Det Chief Insp Neil Luckett, from the major investigation team, said yesterday: "This is a complex investigation and our inquiries - including assessments at the site - are likely to continue for several weeks.

We will not be drawn into conjecture on the nature of the incident. The aim of our investigation is to establish the full circumstances around what happened on the site yesterday.

This is a distressing time for the families of those who sadly lost their lives and our thoughts go out to them.''

Home Office post-mortem examinations to determine the cause of death are due to be carried out on Monday.

A statement released earlier by Claxton said: ``The company is fully co-operating with the investigation.''

It added everybody at Claxton was ``deeply saddened by what has occurred'' and the company's thoughts and sympathy were with the families of the four men.