A labourer was on Thursday crushed to death by a falling log while trying to clear the filter of a lorry at the RI Forest Products, Sawmill and Lumber Yard located at Blueberry Hill, Wismar, Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The dead man has been identified as 20-year-old Stephon Braithwaite, also known
Dead: Stephon Braithwaite
as “Grinch”, of Lot 100 Block 22 Squatting Area, Wismar. Preliminary investigations revealed the now dead man was servicing one of the trucks in the compound. As he continued his work, he reportedly went to another truck which was being offloaded with lumber to get fuel from the tank to put into a filter.
In the process of extracting the fuel, one of the logs slid off the truck and pinned him to the ground, crushing his abdominal cavity, causing his intestines to
protrude.
Guyana Times understands that upon hearing the noise of the log sliding off and a brief scream from the now dead man, several employees rushed to his assistance but it was already too late. Nevertheless, they managed to lift the log off of him and rushed him to the Linden Hospital Complex where he was pronounced dead on
The log that fell on the now dead man
arrival.
Francis Braithwaite, mother of the dead man, told this publication that she was made to understand that one of the workers released the chains from a log that was secured to a truck thus causing it to fall on her son.
The aggrieved mother stated that she was told that her son, who is a father of two, was at the time servicing a truck to head back into an interior location when the accident occurred.
“They tell me that my son tried to run but it was too late and it crush he up and kill he,” the grieving woman related.
She explained that she spoke with the owner of the sawmill who also indicated that though he was present at the location at the time, he did not see what had transpired.
“He said Stephon bring something and give he before it happen but he didn’t see what happened after that,” she noted.
His mother told this publication that the owner of the sawmill where her son
The truck from which the logs were being offloaded
worked has promised to speak with her concerning assistance with funeral arrangements. Meanwhile, a relative of the deceased indicated that the incident has left him to question the safety at such working environs.
“Like nobody ain’t care about safety. That is the thing I looking at,” he noted. Braithwaite is survived by his two children, ages four and two.
His body is presently at the Wismar Hospital Mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination.
