An 18-year-old man dies after being trapped in a cargo lift in Cordoba

His death came just hours before the start of the UN's annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work, adding to the backdrop of an increasing number of workplace fatalities in Spain

Doménico Chiappe

Tuesday, 29 April 2025, 18:13

An 18-year-old man died early Sunday morning in an accident in his workplace. He became trapped in a cargo lift located in a function room on an industrial estate in Cordoba in the early hours of the morning. At 1.45am a call for help was received by Spain's 112 emergency response call service. Fire brigade, paramedics and police were summoned to the scene, but they could only confirm the young man's death and he was not transported to a medical treatment centre.

The National Police began investigating the incident as an occupational accident and the appropriate authorities were also informed (the labour inspectorate and the centre for the prevention of occupational risks).

The death occurred just a few hours before the start of the United Nations' World Day for Safety and Health at Work, adding to what is already a worrying increase in work-related fatalities across the country. In 2024 such tragedies increased by more than 10% in Spain. In hard figures from Spain's employment ministry that means that 796 people lost their lives while working, most of them men (91%).

While awaiting confirmation from the authorities that this was indeed a work-related accident, the CCOO trade union said it would go to court "if we understand that safety measures to protect workers have not been complied with." The Cordoba representative for the CCOO on occupational health, Aurelio Martín said: "We cannot tolerate, nor consent, nor admit that a person who enters the world of work, an 18-year-old young man, who does so with the illusion of earning a wage, should lose his life." This incident follows another death at work in April for Cordoba province, although that was due to a heart attack.

Apart from the official data, there is "an undetermined number of accidents that are not officially reported, as it is known that there is a high percentage of cases that are not declared", stated the union in its press release commemorating the Safety and Health at Work Day on Monday. The two sectors with the highest increases in fatal accidents are Industry and Services (18.8% and 12.7% respectively when compared to 2023). Crush injuries or amputations, as in the case of this young man from Cordoba, rose by almost 14% in the last period.

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