HEALTH and Safety inspectors are investigating how a man died at Dover’s Eastern Docks on Tuesday.

Emergency services, including the Kent Air Ambulance, were called to the scene following reports that a man had been crushed between a crane and a flat-bed lorry at berth six.

It is not thought the crane was involved in operations at the time, although that is one aspect being investigated by the health and safety team.

The harbour board said the man was employed by an outside contractor and had been engaged in repairing fenders when the accident happened.

The Health and Safety Executive were contacted immediately and a team from Ashford launched an investigation in conjunction with Kent Police.

The man, who lived in the Southampton area but has not yet been named, was an employee of Ainscough Cranes, based in Wigan. Company director Keith Hartis said colleagues were "absolutely distraught" by the news of the man’s death.

A spokesman for Dover Harbour Board said it also wished to express the board’s condolences to the man’s family.