Police and Labour Department officials investigate the storage yard where the man earlier died, apparently coming up with different ideas about what happened

A 65-year-old man died in a Tin Shui Wai godown yesterday, with police and Labour Department offering different versions of events.

A preliminary police report says initial investigation shows the victim, Mr Yau, alighted from a light goods vehicle, which then started to roll forward, crushing him against a “special purpose vehicle”.

But an official Labour Department press release says a “lorry-mounted crane had started to slide forward” and Yau had been attempting to stop it when he was crushed by the crane’s cab door.

“We are aware of the difference in stories,” says a police source. “We have information from our inspectors, [Labour Department] has information from their officers.”

Labour Department said it was certainly the lorry-mounted crane which slid forward. “The crane was mounted on a van-like vehicle so perhaps that’s why the police thought the moving vehicle was the van?” suggested a Labour Department spokeswoman.

Yau’s death is the second Special Purpose Vehicle fatality in a month: in August, a Leisure and Cultural Services (LCSD) arborist was killed when an elevated work platform collapsed in Western District.

At the time, Labour Department said it would review crane safety procedures and banned LCSD from using the elevated platforms in its tree work until “measures to abate the relevant risks have been taken”.