Worker dies when 12,000-pound beam falls on him, officials say

A worker was killed in an accident at 256 Marginal St. in East Boston.Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff/Globe staff

A man was killed by a 12,000-pound steel beam in an industrial accident at a plant in East Boston on Monday, authorities said.

The worker was killed when the beam fell on him at Boston Bridge & Steel Inc. on Marginal Street, according to authorities. He was pronounced dead at the scene, said David Procopio, State Police spokesman.

Family members at the site identified the victim as 46-year-old Marco Antonio Huezo Mancea of El Salvador. He lived in the US for 12 years and had a wife, son, and two daughters in El Salvador, said the family members, who declined to be identified.

“A large piece in an arch shape shifted on the worker, trapping him underneath,” said Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department.

MacDonald said the piece of steel weighed 12,000 pounds and that the department was working to recover the body late Monday.

“It’s very time-consuming to safely move [the steel] with as much dignity as we can for the victim,” he said.

MacDonald said he did not know what the steel beam was to be used for.

From a preliminary investigation and observation, it appears the death was an accident and that no foul play was involved, authorities said. The man was accompanied by approximately three other workers when the accident occurred at about 6:15 p.m., Procopio said.

The scene was quiet with few neighbors coming by as the night pressed on. Numerous emergency vehicles passed back and forth through the open gate of the industrial park to the area of the accident.

Around 8:30 p.m., about a half-dozen members of Mancea’s extended family who lived in the area began to gather outside the gate of the complex. They stood stoically in the light drizzle waiting for updates from authorities on the recovery operation.

The accident Monday was the second involving an industrial fatality within five days in Boston.

On Thursday afternoon, a 37-year-old construction worker died at a work site in Downtown Crossing, Boston police said.

The man was injured by a scissor lift at a site at Hawley and Summer streets around 2 p.m. and later died of his injuries at Tufts Medical Center, said David Estrada, a police spokesman.

The Suffolk State Police Detective Unit is leading the investigation of the Marginal Street fatality, said the office of District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.