A 50-year-old labourer was killed after being struck on the head by a falling oil palm fruit bunch while harvesting at a plantation in Felda Bukit Goh near Kuantan.
Kuantan police chief Ashari Abu Samah said Bukit Goh police received information regarding the incident from the plantation owner at around 5.45pm on May 16.
A police team dispatched to the scene found the victim lying motionless near an oil palm tree before he was later pronounced dead by medical personnel.
According to Ashari, the victim had resumed harvesting together with two other workers after taking a short break at about 5.30pm.
“One of the victim’s friends had gone to collect the fruit bunches that were cut using a sickle before later discovering the victim lying on the ground covered in blood,” he said.
Police believe the victim was struck by a freshly cut oil palm fruit bunch that fell from the tree during the harvesting process.
The plantation owner later arrived at the scene together with police officers and medical staff from the Bukit Goh health clinic before the body was sent to Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Ashari said the oil palm tree involved was approximately 12 metres tall while the fruit bunch weighed around 15 kilogrammes.
Initial investigations found no criminal elements linked to the incident and the case has been classified as sudden death.
Oil palm harvesting is known to be physically demanding and dangerous due to the heavy fruit bunches, which can weigh between 15kg and 25kg and may fall unexpectedly during cutting operations.
Malaysia remains the world’s second-largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia, with the commodity widely used in food manufacturing, cosmetics and industrial products.
