A 39-year-old  motorcyclist was killed just before 6 p.m. Thursday when his bike crashed into a rental van at Rutherford Place and Decoro Drive in North Valencia.

Emergency medical technicians tried to resuscitate the unidentified motorcycle rider until about 6:30 p.m., when they placed a white sheet over his body in the eastbound lane of Decoro Drive.

Decoro was closed between McBean Parkway and Grandview Drive about 6:30 p.m. and was expected to remain closed about two hours.

It was the third reported motorcycle fatality in the Santa Clarita Valley in less than two weeks.

A Sheriff’s Department sergeant at the scene of the crash said the motorcycle hit the side of the van.

“You can see where it ‘T-boned,’” the sergeant said. “We’re waiting for investigators to get here.”

Debris from the crash was spread in a 20-foot radius around the motorcycle. The body rested about two feet away.

The Penske van had stopped on Decoro, about 50 feet west of the motorcycle. The sidewall of the van was lifted about a foot off the chassis at the apparent impact point.

Fluid could be seen leaking from the shattered Suzuki motorcycle’s gas tank in a thin line. A firefighter used a shovel to cover the fuel with mulch from landscaping near the intersection.