The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is investigating the death of a nine-year-old boy in a quarry in Co Donegal on Monday evening.
Joseph McDevitt died after he was trapped beneath a pile of rubble when an embankment collapsed on top of him in a quarry near Annagry, west Donegal. The schoolboy was helping his father deliver fuel to the quarry.
When the rubble began to fall, the quarry owner tried to save the boy but was injured. He was treated in Letterkenny General Hospital for a leg injury. The boy's body was also taken to the hospital for a postmortem yesterday. An inspector from the HSA will conduct an inquiry into the death.
Joseph McDevitt is the fifth person to die in a quarry accident this year. In March, a 48-year-old man died following the collapse of a quarry face in Co Donegal. In May, a 57-year-old was killed working in a quarry in Co Wexford.
Also in May, a 31-year-old man was killed working in a quarry in Co Donegal. And in June, a 47-year-old man died when working in a quarry in Co Tipperary. There were no deaths in 2004.
