Friends remember worker electrocuted in Wayne County
The worker who was electrocuted this week outside a Wayne County seed company was remembered Friday as a hard worker who wanted to take care of his family in Mexico.
Francisco Sanchez, known to his friends as "Pancho," and two other men were putting up a flagpole outside Cashwell & Jones in Mount Olive on Wednesday afternoon when the pole came in contact with a power line, authorities said.
Sanchez was killed, and the other two workers were injured.
Juan Hilario and his wife, who have known Sanchez for 30 years, rushed to his house to check on him when they heard about the accident at Cashwell & Jones.
"We really didn’t think it was him," Bridgett Creech Hilario said. "We rode to his house, and there were no cars there."
So, they left a note for Sanchez to call them when he got home and then drove to the company, she said.
There, they saw Sanchez's car.
"I told Juan, ‘Go inside and just ask.’ So, he goes inside, and I’m watching through the window, and as soon as she, the secretary, tells him, I see his face drop, and I knew it was Poncho" who was killed, Creech Hilario said.
Hilario said he last saw Sanchez a week before his friend died. They went for ice cream and talked about going back to Mexico.
Sanchez hadn’t seen his mother in 30 years, and it was his dream to see her again, Hilario said.
"He wanted to see his family so bad, and I said, 'Go ahead. Go. It’s been a long time,'" he said. "That’s the last time he talked to me."
Hilario said he is worried because Sanchez’s mother is sick, and he isn’t sure how she’s doing.
"I love him, and I wish we can go out again and laugh," he said. "I want to give him a hug. I just want to see him for the last time."
Local authorities said they have contacted Sanchez's mother in Mexico, and Sanchez's remains will likely be sent there, as he had no family in North Carolina.
Hilario and his wife are planning a memorial for Sanchez but have had no luck getting in touch with his family in Mexico.
The two injured workers are in the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill. One of them, Barney Kirby, was in good condition on Thursday. The other worker's name and condition haven't been released.
