Metrobriefs

Truck helper killed in freak accident

A TRUCK helper was crushed to death after a large coil of wire rod which weighed close to a ton fell on him in Manila. Angelito Cortes, a native of Mexico, Pampanga, died on the spot. SPO1 Milbert Balinggan of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section said the accident happened at around 6 p.m. on Monday at the cargo lift area of Lighterage Corp. at Baseco Compound in Port Area, Manila. He added that Cortes was assisting a crane operator who was loading some 880 kilograms of coil wire rod onto a truck when the cable wound around it snapped and fell on the victim, crushing him. Jeannette I. Andrade

Antique religious image stolen

AN OLD wooden image of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help was stolen from a parish church in Quezon City, two weeks ago, according to its parish priest. Mayon Sta. Teresita Parish Church priest Fr. Raffy Gonzaga said a man who had identified himself as Omar Sarino took the image on June 15 from a church staffer on the pretense that he was going to restore it. “He told the staffer that he would make a glass frame for the image and that he had my permission to take the image from the church premises,” Gonzaga said. He explained that the wooden image was kept inside the sacristy of the adoration chapel and was only brought out every Wednesday morning for Mass. He added that the image was less than a meter high with a “gothic style” frame. Gonzaga, however, said he was still hopeful that the thief would return it. The priest shared that it was only recently that he found out the image had been taken out of the adoration chapel when another staffer asked if the image had been returned. Based on the description of the church staffer the thief had attended several Masses in the church in the past. Nancy C. Carvajal