2 high school students buried in sand collapse

Two high school students were killed while another was wounded after they were buried when a wall of sand collapsed in a quarry site in Barangay (village) Calicanan, Pamplona town, about 60 km west of here on October 20.

Rescuers were still looking for two other students who remained missing.

The five were students of Calicanan High School Extension who went to the nearby quarry site to gather sand that would be used to mix with the cement for the muddy school grounds.

As the students were digging for sand beneath a wall of sand, the wall caved in and buried the students around 4 p.m.

Rescuers pulled three students out of the sand.

One was killed instantly while the other was declared dead at Amio Community Hospital in Sta. Catalina town. They were Kiram Kibate, 12, and Leo Jen Baya, 13.

Bertrand Anfone was rushed to the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital in Dumaguete City for treatment.

The two missing students were identified only as Ronald and Dante.

Dr. Milagros Velez, provincial schools division superintendent for Negros Oriental, said they were still ascertaining whether or not Ronald and Dante had been able to return to their homes.

Investigation

Velez said that upon learning of the incident, she immediately asked the Pamplona police to secure the teachers because she was worried that they would be harmed by irate parents or relatives of the victims.

She also asked the school principal, Aldin Ladion, to reach out to the families of the victims with the help of the local government unit and to provide the caskets for the deceased.

Velez said her office had begun their investigation into the incident and the liability of all concerned would be determined through the grievance procedure of the Department of Education.

Velez was scheduled to visit the teachers in Pamplona to give them moral support. “They are so scared for their safety. I have to visit them to know their side or else, who will speak for them if everyone condemns them?”

She also rejected suggestions for the temporary closure of the school because of the incident. The Calicanan High School Extension has 221 students from first to fourth year.

In Naga City, a construction worker was killed and three others were injured when they were buried when a mixture of cement, steel construction materials and soil eroded while they were constructing a part of a storm drainage on a street in front of a hospital on Friday.

The body of Casiano Cedeño, 54, of Barangay (village) Lerma, was dug out by a combined force of Bureau of Fire Protection  personnel, police and Army and hospital personnel from the rubble after almost 2 hours and 30 minutes of being buried under the eroded cement, metal and soil in front of Dr. Nilo O. Roa Memorial Foundation Hospital on Dimasalang Street, Barangay San Francisco, Naga City.

His companions—Nestor Oliva, 48, from Sta. Cruz, Tinambac; Domingo Bananlayos, 40, of Concepcion Pequeña, and Arnel Natividad, 33, of Salvacion, Tinambac—were previously taken out of the rubble after the sides of the 10-foot deep storm drainage they were constructing for the city suddenly eroded at around 1:30 p.m., said San Francisco village Councilor Susana Bragais. Alex Pal, Inquirer Visayas, and Shiela Barrameda, Inquirer Southern Luzon