A teenager from Shipyard is mangled to his death by a crusher

Tonight there is tragic news to report out of the Shipyard community in the Orange Walk District. A fourteen year old boy was mangled and killed after he fell into the jaws of a crusher. The piece of heavy equipment, used to grind dirt into white marl, was being operated at a quarry in Shipyard. Young Peter Reimer had been working there for only a year, and at around ten this morning he did not follow operational procedures and paid the ultimate price. His body was retrieved from the crusher this afternoon after three hours of being trapped inside, and was transported to the Northern Regional Hospital. Today his family is grieving as they await the return of Peter’s body so they can say a final goodbye. Mike Rudon travelled to Shipyard this afternoon and has the story.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

This afternoon relatives of fourteen year old Peter Reimer returned to the site where he tragically lost his life at around ten this morning. His mangled body had been removed from this machine, where he had been trapped for hours.

The machine is called a crusher, and like its name states, it is used to crush earth into the very fine white marl. Peter had been working at the quarry for one year, and because of his age he was placed outside the danger zone. In fact, his job was to man this seat, from where he could ensure that everything was working. Another older operator manned the excavator which would feed the dirt into the bin for crushing.

But today things went horribly wrong.

Voice of: Henry Harms, Uncle of Peter Reimer

“There was a young boy working on that machine. The machine was getting empty and he went to the excavator to fill it up again and he fell into the machine and that’s where he died.”

From what we were told, the excavator operator left the site for a while, leaving Peter Reimer and a twelve year old child at the quarry. But apparently Reimer was impatient to keep working, and jumped on the excavator to load the bin himself. He did that, and when he was returning to his seat, he tried to use a shortcut, jumping from one side of the machine to the other. But he tripped and fell, sliding into the grinding jaws of the crusher. The twelve year old boy, who saw everything, stopped the machine, but by then it was already too late. The boy ran to the neighboring quarry for help, but all that could be done at that point was to remove his horribly smashed body.

Voice of: Henry Harms

“They had two ropes there and they passed it around him. They were pulling the machine hands backwards and the machine was pulling him out; that’s with the ropes.”

That operation took three hours and at about one thirty the body was removed and transported by Police to the Northern Regional Hospital. Mike Rudon for News Five.

The family is gathered at the home where they are awaiting the release of Peter’s body by the authorities. He will then be taken home where there will be a short wake, after which he will be taken to the morgue in Shipyard. He will be buried on Sunday.