INFO AT DEPACHES. A man died in an accident involving a forklift and a vehicle in Lamasquère in the Haute-Garonne during the night between Thursday and Friday.
It's a heartbreaking drama. A 27-year-old father of two lost his life this Friday morning in terrible circumstances. According to our information, an individual is currently being questioned by the community gendarmes of the Seysses brigade. He is suspected of manslaughter.
This accident started shortly after midnight. At this late hour, a driver is driving on the road to Fougarouse in Lamasquère, a small village of 1,500 inhabitants located south of Toulouse. It takes a country road that runs past housing estates and sunflower fields. The lane narrows near a bus stop, where a sidewalk cuts into the carriageway, forcing alternative traffic. The driver, tired, falls asleep, hits the curb and ends up in a ditch.
A few minutes later, a man passing by stopped to help him, but the vehicle got stuck in the ditch. The owner of the damaged car calls a friend to help him. This fellow quickly gets to the controls of a Manitou© type forklift.
The victim would not be from Lamasquère
“They tried to pull the damaged car and succeeded. However, during the maneuver, it appears that a blade of the machine got stuck. One of the three gentlemen, the one who happened to be passing by the area following the accident, bent down to unlock it. The tragedy happened at that moment. It was a twist of fate, a real tragedy,” a local resident testified. “I didn't see the accident, but I went to see the many firefighters and policemen to understand. This is the explanation I was given. Here, we are not used to seeing help,” adds this fifty-year-old man. .
According to this witness, the victim is not from the village. “It was there by chance, how sad,” says this resident of Lamasquère. The police officers, according to the requirements of the procedure, performed an alcohol and drug test. It appears that the owner of the forklift, who was driving the machine, had consumed alcohol. Checks are ongoing. The man, in a state of shock, could still be heard Friday morning.