Tragic Accident Claims Life of Santander Farm Worker in Cayo District

A resident of the Cayo District lost his life in a freak accident at the Santander Farm on the George Price Highway, Cayo District. According to Police, 53-year-old, Anastacio Vasquez was pronounced dead at around three thirty Sunday morning after a 40-foot cage fell on him at the farm. Vasquez was fixing a tire on the cage, and after retrieving some tools, he attempted to get under the cage but did not notice it was not firmly set.  His co-worker, Aaron Pena, was the one who saw, and despite trying to warn Vasquez to move away from the cage, it was all too late.  The cage fell on Vasquez, crushing his face, and causing severe bruises to the chest and back.  Vasquez was taken to the Western Regional Hospital just before one o’clock, where he succumbed. Santander’s Public Relations, Beverly Burke, says the unfortunate incident has left the company mourning. 

Beverly Burke, Public Relations, Santander: “First of all the position is to lend all the possible support to his family at this point in time. We are in mourning. I don’t know how else to put it. We’ve lost one of our senior, very good employees, he’s been with us for about eight and a half years in total and I mean very humble person and a hard worker and this unfortunate situation has left us stunned to be honest. The complete freak accident they were working on the repair of a tire or one of the cage that we transport the cut cane in and while they jacked up the cage to remove the tire he went to secure a tool for them to keep on working on that and unfortunately the cage started slipping and his assistant basically yelled at him, alerted him to get out the way and everything happened so quickly that before they knew it the cage toppled over and unfortunately it ended up crushing him.”

Burke says the company is setting policies in place to bolster work safety on its compound.