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Motueka High School, where a five-year-old boy was killed when a log fell on him. - Source: Fairfax
Police have named the five-year-old boy who was crushed to death in Motueka.
Glen Temiha-Barlow died after a log rolled onto him while he was playing near the pile of logs with young friends.
Sergeant Rob Crawford of Motueka said that at about 5.45pm on Thursday, a group of four to six children, aged four and five, were playing on the pile of logs beside the rugby field at Motueka High School.
"A number of children were jumping up and down on the top of the pile and the deceased was on the ground at the bottom of the pile. The jumping dislodged a log that rolled off the top of the pile, killing the boy instantly," he said.
Temiha-Barlow and his parents, who are from Motueka, were visiting friends at a nearby house, Crawford said.
The pile of poplar trunks, which appeared to contain about 30 to 40 logs, was about two metres high and some of the trunks were up to a metre in diameter. The pile was stacked three to four logs high. The logs were next to shrubs and a fence, which separated the school from the rear of houses on McGlashen St.
There was no fencing around the stack of logs, police said.
"There is no boundary to the logs, they were in a school field and OSH are investigating that side of it,'' Crawford said.
The chairman of the Motueka High School board of trustees, Ian Palmer, said the trees in the stack were felled on Wednesday afternoon by a contractor. The trees were five poplars that the school had been required by the Tasman District Council to fell because they were rotting.
He did not know who the contractor was but said the school would be fully supporting the investigation into the accident by the police and the Department of Labour.
Crawford said that once OSH had completed its scene examination, which was already underway, police would conduct their own scene investigation on behalf of the coroner.
He said the school would then have the log pile dismantled. The log pile was under scene guard, he said.
St John said the boy died at the scene and no one was taken to hospital.
A school spokesman says the accident is deeply distressing for everyone.
Temiha-Barlow's family is being supported by local iwi and victim support.
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