A 34-year-old backhoe operator died after a boulder fell on the backhoe where he was having lunch at a quarry site in Tuy, Batangas.

The impact was too strong such that it crushed the man’s body practically in half. 

Police said the boulder rolled off from an elevated area of the site.

"It so happen po na ‘yung isang malaking tipak ng bato galing po doon sa itaas na bahagi ng quarrying site, gumulong po directly doon sa kinalalagyan ng biktima at nu’ng backhoe na kung saan ‘yun po ang naging sanhi ng kanyang kamatayan po," PMAJ. Roy Cuevas, Officer-in-Charge of Tuy Police Station, said.

It took nearly two hours before the man’s colleagues noticed what had happened.

Authorities suspect that the ground on the mountainside might have softened, causing the boulder to fall.

"Ang isa po naming tinitingnan po doon ay baka po ay bato po ay maluwag na po yung pagkaka-kapit niya doon sa lupa, kaya sa katagalan na rin po gumulong na po sya pababa," Cuevas said.

As of this writing, the victim's remains are at a funeral home in Tuy, Batangas, awaiting his relatives from Zamboanga del Norte.

The owner of the quarry site has also been in contact with the man’s family.

Police advised:

"Para po sa mga trabahante natin po lalo na po sa ganyang klase ng trabaho, yang sa quarrying site, mangyari po na maging maingat po tayo sa bawat galaw po natin. Lalo na po at may ganyang insidente. I-assess po muna natin ang ating kinalalagyan [at] yung lugar para po maiwasan po natin ang mga ganitong aksidente po," Cuevas said.