Port worker crushed to death by log

MANILA, Philippines—A 49-year-old forklift operator was killed early Friday morning, crushed crushed by one of several logs he and co-workers were unloading from a ship at the port of Manila.

Numeriano Palanas, an employee of the Integrated Dynamic Services Pier Group Inc., of Katuparan Street, Vitas in Tondo, was declared dead on arrival at the Tondo Medical Center.

It took his co-workers more than one hour to pry him loose from his crushed forklift and rush him to the nearest hospital.

PO3 Giovanni Valera of the Manila Police District homicide section said that the incident happened at around 4 a.m. inside the Port Container Terminal compound at Pier 18 of the North Harbor.

Valera revealed that before the incident, Palanas and three other forklift operators were unloading 20-foot logs from the foreign vessel M/V Ai Rui Xin and transporting them to a stockpile.

He pointed out that Palanas was operating the third forklift in a line of four vehicles loaded with logs bound for the stockpile. The last forklift went over a hump, causing one of its front wheels to jump and toss over one of the logs toward Palanas’ forklift.

Valera said that the log crushed the forklift and pinned Palanas against the steering wheel. His co-workers lifted the log off the vehicle and had to cut through the crushed metal to extricate Palanas.

The body was brought to the St. Yvan funeral parlor.