GOVERNORS ISLAND — A hardworking Staten Island dad was crushed to death by a sewer pipe just yards from his son on Governors Island Friday morning, an FDNY spokesman said.
Father of three Abbas Behnam-Bakhsh, 55, was helping unload the pipe from a delivery truck when the harness used to hoist it off a delivery truck snapped about 8:30 a.m., the spokesman said.
His son, who was working in the jobsite office at the time of the accident, rushed out only to see his father dead under the pipe, according to a worker who asked his name not be used.
"Terrible, unfortunate accident," the worker said. "It was not a good day."
Behnam-Bakhsh, who had to forego a family vacation in the Dominican Republic to work on the project, was not supposed to be unloading the pipe, the worker said, but because the other workers were busy at a nearby pier, the Iranian-born engineer decided to do it himself.
Two others suffered minor injuries, but refused medical treatment at the scene, fire said.
Carp Construction, the Staten Island company contracted to do the job, declined to comment as did the Governor's Island Trust.
A neighbor described Behnam-Bakhsh as a gentle, considerate man.
"Really nice, just so gentle," said Neveen Salem, 39. "He was a gentlemen.
