5 workers die as bridge collapses in Davao City

WORKSITE TRAGEDY Rescuers carry one of the bodies retrieved from the rubble of a bridge that collapsed in Davao City on Monday. Five workers died in the accident. —PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVAO CITY POLICE OFFICE

DAVAO CITY—Five workers died while two others were injured when the bridge they were working on at Baragay Malamba in Marilog district here collapsed on Monday, police said.

Dario Dispo, 42, the project foreman, told investigators that 10 workers of Bojus Sun Builders and Supply Corp. were installing the side panel of the bridge using a boom truck when the structure collapsed, burying the seven workers in the rubble.

Dispo said the truck was positioned toward the center of the bridge. The structure, some 18.28 meters (60 feet, or about six stories high), collapsed into the river, bringing along the seven workers.

Meljay Bero, 29, survived and was pulled put from the rubble about 5 p.m. on Monday. But rescuers found in the same spot the body of Rolando Abing, 40, who died from head injuries.

Another survivor, Jonathan Dispo, 38, a mason, was rescued hours later and was taken to the nearest hospital.

Aside from Abing, rescuers on Monday also recovered the body of Jay Bangonan, 22, another mason.

Three more bodies were dug from the rubble at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The fatalities were identified as Cris Napao, 44, a mason; Jimboy Liga, 28, boom truck operator; and Elmer Sayson, 44.

The bridge in Barangay Malamba, a project of the local government, was the second bridge project to have collapsed in Marilog district since last year.

In February last year, the Kulafu bridge project in Barangay Magsaysay, a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways, also collapsed and injured two workers.

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https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1807019/death-toll-rises-to-5-from-collapsed-bridge-in-davao-city

—GERMELINA LACORTE INQ