A crane driver was crushed to death in a horror accident at a building site yesterday.

One eye-witness said: "It was unbelievable -- the entire crane just toppled over and smashed into a truck.

"I could hear the driver screaming, but there was nothing anybody could do.'' Firefighters at the scene had to use airbags to lift the crane and free Mr.

Teddy Sewell, 39, of St. David's, who was trapped in his cab for around 45 minutes.

And a massive 50,000 ton crane was called in to lift the toppled vehicle further so Mr. Sewell could be pulled clear.

The father-of-three was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, but it is believed he was dead on arrival.

The crane, owned by Hamilton's Sea-Land Construction Ltd., was lifting a container of construction materials at the site of the new Bull's Head car park in Hamilton when the accident happened.

Mr. Sewell was crushed between the front end of a container truck and the 20,000-ton crane's hydraulic arm.

Eyewitnesses said that the container appeared to veer over, unbalancing the crane.

The hydraulic arm tipped over onto the front end of the container truck, trapping Mr. Sewell underneath.

One construction worker said Mr. Sewell may have parked the crane too close to the front end of the container truck.

He added that when the hydraulic arm picked up the 20,000 pound container the crane may have been easily unbalanced. And he suggested the operator should have been parked more centrally.

Sea-Land Construction owner Mr. Andrew Cooper was not available for comment last night.

Last night the community of St. David's was stunned by news of the accident.

Mrs. Judy Pitcher, assistant manager of the Black Horse Tavern, said: "Everybody's still in shock -- he was such a nice guy. It's really terrible for his family.'' Last night Police and officials from the Traffic Control Department were probing the incident.

Mr. David Johnson of the TCD said: "We don't know exactly what happened yet.

Both ourselves and the Health and Safety at Work Department will be investigating the cause of this accident.'' The arm of the crane smashed into the parts department of nearby Holmes, Williams & Purvey.

Parts manager Mr. Michael Plowman said: "If someone had been working up there, they would definitely have been seriously injured or killed.

"From our point of view, thank God there wasn't. Luckily, it's a low ceiling and there isn't very much stored up there.

Public Safety Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness last night expressed his sympathy for Mr. Sewell's widow and children.

He said: "Our prayers are with them. When I heard what had happened, I was terribly upset, as were all my colleagues.'' Mr. Edness added that the Government's Health & Safety at Work Department had already begun its investigation into the accident.

"In due course, we will know if there is anything we can do to prevent this happening again, or whether it was one of these unfortunate incidents where nothing could have been done to prevent it.''