1 killed, 3 hurt as truck hits power line in N. Cotabato

This truck bursts into flames as its hydraulic boom hits a 69-kilovolt power line in North Cotabato on Sunday, April 28,. 2019. (Contributed photo)

KIDAPAWAN CITY – A truck helper was killed and three others were hurt when the hydraulic boom of the truck hit a live 69-kilovolt transmission line in Kabacan, North Cotabato on Sunday.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Connie Anton of Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Kabacan town identified the victim as Tino Cabeltes, 27, a drilling machine helper and resident of Damulog, Bukidnon.

Injured were boom truck driver Joel Mandang, 33; boom truck operator Benjamin Dominguez, 27; and truck helper Jhonray Uyhok, 35, from Dumaguete City.

Mandang and Dominguez were both residents of Damulog, Bukidnon. Uyhok was from Dumaguete.

According to Anton, the victims were conducting soil testing at Sitio Lumayong, Barangay Kayaga in Kabacan town about 4 p.m. on Sunday when its raised boom accidentally touched an overhead high-voltage power line.

“There was an explosion and the truck sparked and caught fire,” Carmelito Apoyon, a resident of Barangay Kayaga, told reporters. “I saw three men running away, but the fourth man was already on the ground, lifeless.”

Responding firefighters put off the blaze, but failed to save Cabeltes who died on the spot.

/atm