A Ports of Auckland worker killed on Tuesday morning after falling from a container ship has been named as 26-year-old Otara resident Atiroa Tuaiti.
Tuaiti grew up in the Cook Islands and moved to South Auckland during his teens and attended Mt Roskill Grammar. It is understood he has worked at the port for several years.
He worked as a stevedore employed by Wallace Investments. A company spokesman said while it was too early to know what had happened, the employee died in “a fall from height”.
His father was working at the port when the tragedy unfolded. Video footage uploaded to Facebook shows him among grieving shipping workers who performed a haka as the body the 26-year-old new father was transported from the scene.
Tuaiti leaves behind his partner and two young children – his youngest born just last October.
It is the fourth death involving the port since 2017 and an investigation into his death is now underway.
Maritime Union of New Zealand national secretary Craig Harrison says the tragedy reinforces the dangers faced by port workers everyday throughout New Zealand.
The union is calling for a national inquiry into port safety following a string of deaths and injuries at New Zealand ports in recent years.
