1 dead, 4 hurt in Valenzuela lumberyard mishap

A lumber store helper died while four of his fellow workers were seriously hurt when they were accidentally crushed by the logs they were unloading from a trailer truck in Valenzuela City Friday night.

Valenzuela City police chief Senior Superintendent Ranier Idio identified the fatality as Franklin Recale, 34, stay-in helper of Bay View Marketing in Fortune Village, Barangay Paso de Blas.

The four other victims – Raffy Sebuguero, 19, Dexter Ojenar, 23, Efren Ojenar, 18, and Pastor Degiron, 48 – were brought to the Valenzuela General Hospital for treatment.

Police Officer 2 Exequiel Sangco said Degiron drove a trailer truck full of logs into the Bay View lumberyard at around 11 p.m. He then disengaged the trailer from the tractor head as Recale and the three other stay-in helpers unloaded the lumber.

Degiron and helper Anthony Malana proceeded to an empty 40-foot container van parked beside the lumber truck and hooked the van up to the tractor head. As they did so, the container van – parked on soft ground – tilted toward the lumber truck.

Degiron tried to bolster the leaning container van with wooden posts but the container van continued to topple until it fell on the truck. The impact caused the logs to fall from the truck, killing Recale and injuring his three companions.