A mom of three and hospital worker from Pittsburgh was tragically killed when a steel drum weighing thousands of pounds broke lose from a construction site, rolled down a hill and struck into her.
Aleia Lopez, 51, was walking with colleagues on break from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Western Psychiatric Hospital when the metal cylinder slammed into her, causing fatal head injuries.
Bystanders tried to help before medics arrived but Lopez was pronounced dead at the Friday morning scene, according to police.
The metal drum, which likely weighed at least a ton, was on a construction site next to the university’s Peterson Events Center where a new 240,000-square-foot arena is being built, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
The city and the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the incident.
The contractor, Costa Contracting, said it was “committed to a full investigation,” according to the outlet.
A GoFundMe was been set up for Lopez’s funeral expanses and family by her mother, Melanie Hall, and raised more than its $20,000 goal by Saturday morning.
“Aleia was a light in the lives of all that knew her and the rock for her three children Angelia, Leilani, and Ethan,” Hall wrote on the fundraising page. “Her sudden death has put her family, especially her children, in considerable financial hardship.”
Lopez, who attended the University of Pittsburgh, was an executive assistant at the psychiatric hospital for the past five years, according to LinkedIn.
“While this was not a UPMC construction site, this tragedy impacts our campuses and we are providing support services to our employees,” according to a statement from UPMC. “Our deepest sympathies are with the victim’s family, friends and colleagues.”
