2 laborers dead, 1 hurt as budget hotel collapses

RETRIEVAL OPERATIONS Rescuers remove the body of one of the victims from the rubble of Hotel Sogo on Mabini Street in Manila. The six-story structure was being torn down when a portion suddenly gave way on Monday morning. —EDWIN BACASMAS

MANILA, Philippines — Two laborers were killed on Monday when a budget hotel in Manila that was being demolished suddenly collapsed, burying them under tons of rubble.

Another worker was injured when a portion of the six-story Hotel Sogo on Mabini Street in Malate gave way around 9:30 a.m.

A witness at a nearby convenience store said that she was startled by a loud crash that came from the work site.

It took almost six hours for rescue personnel to retrieve the body of one of the fatalities identified as Melo Ison.

His brother, Edson Ison, was brought to the Philippine General Hospital for injuries around noon.

At 5:56 p.m., rescuers were finally able to retrieve the body of Jerome Fabello, the second laborer who was killed after a concrete slab and a beam fell on him.

There were 22 workers in the building when part of its left side suddenly collapsed. Except for the Ison brothers and Fabello, all were safe.

Challenging rescue

According to Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, the rescue was proving to be “very challenging.”

“This is no ordinary situation because you can see that the stability of the building is very fragile,” Domagoso told reporters shortly after Melo Ison’s body was retrieved.

Fabello’s body was proving harder to extricate because it was located under a beam and a slab, he said.

“The situation is more difficult because [responders] are trying to lift the beam and the slab using a [mobile] crane but the [structure] is unstable. Rescuers’ lives [are also at risk],” Domagoso added.

The Manila city engineering office has been ordered to investigate the incident. Based on the office of the building official’s records, demolition of the hotel began in August after its management was issued a permit.

Under investigation

Levi Facundo, chief of the city’s Bureau of Permits, said that a check of their archives showed that the hotel had a permit to operate issued in 2004. It has yet to be determined when it started operations and why the hotel was being torn down.

“[The determination of] liability will come later. We’ll find out … if there [is anyone at] fault. In the meantime, we don’t want to accuse anybody until we see negligence on the part of Sogo or the contractor,” Domagoso said.