Korean becomes 19th fatality at Hanjin Subic facility

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines - A South Korean expat working here was killed Sunday when a forklift ran over him at an assembly facility of the Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp. Philippines.

Police reports identified the fatality as Choi Dong Baek, a 51-year-old supervisor at the sprawling shipbuilding complex located at the Redondo Peninsula in Subic Bay. He was run over by a forklift operated by Menti Dacanay, a Filipino worker, at around 12:45 a.m. at the vicinity of assembly shop C where metal works are done.

Baek was rushed to the San Marcelino Hospital where he expired at about 1:30 a.m. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident.

Baek was the first South Korean killed this year and is the first expat to be fatally involved in a work-related accident. His death raised the total number of work-related deaths to 19 since Hanjin's construction and shipbuilding operations began in 2006.

Last Friday, a 19-year-old Filipino worker, Raldon del Rosario, died when a metal base of newly installed canvass door fell on him. He died of massive head injuries. The incident also injured Camalao Bochie, 24, who suffered leg injuries. - John Bayarong, GMANews.TV