Worker Crushed To Death By Cargo Container

TACOMA - An empty 4-ton shipping container fell from a ship Saturday afternoon, killing a port worker, authorities said.

Kim Miles, a 40-year-old Sumner woman, was walking along a dock Saturday afternoon when a crane knocked the empty container from the 600-foot-long freighter Ever Ursula from Asia that it was unloading, police said.

"For some reason, this crane at one point picked up a larger amount of containers than usual," Tacoma police spokeswoman Tracy Conaway said. "That knocked this lone one off the ship."

Miles was walking to a break with several co-workers when the container began falling. They shouted a warning, but she was unable to get out of the way, Conaway said.

Police said Miles died on impact at about 2:30 p.m. Police ruled the death accidental, but state and federal workplace safety officials were expected to investigate.

Conaway said Miles was a member of Local 23 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.