TWO people were killed in a logging camp in Roto, Makira province last week when a log slipped from an excavator fell on them.
Police Commissioner, Mostyn Mangau said those two were killed when an excavator driven by an Asian was carrying logs, and one of the logs slide from its bucket onto the two and killing them both.
Initial report said that the two deceased are local employees of Woodland logging company.
The tragic incident happened when they were taking their break while the Asian excavator operator was trying to pull one felled log from a concession area.
While the operator struggled to lift the said log, it suddenly slipped off from the machine and landed on the two deceased while they tried to escape.
Mangau said police had attended to the incident and an investigation was now conducted.
“My condolences to the families and relatives for the loss of their loved ones in this fatal accident.”
In a statement yesterday, the Police Media Unit reported that Commissioner of Police Mostyn shared his condolence message to the family of the two deceased.
“My condolences to the families and relatives for the loss of their loved ones in this fatal accident.”
He also appealed to the relatives of the two deceased to refrain from taking possible retaliation and allow police to continue with their investigation.
“Members of the communities at Roto who may have any information in relation to the sad incident to come forward and assist police with investigation.”
“I call on the management of all logging companies operating in the province to play their part to educate their employees over matters of safety at work. Some lives should have been saved if regular safety briefing were transmitted frequently as logging operations involved some very high-risk tasking,” says Mangau.
By FOLLET JOHN
Newsroom, Honiara
