Collapsed skyway beam injures 5, snarls traffic

Construction workers watch as a copin beam collapses along Osmena Highway where 5 steelmen were injuired. – Inquirer/Marianne Bermudez

Five construction workers were injured when the coping beam at the construction site of the Skyway Stage 3 project in Makati City area collapsed on Tuesday morning.

The incident along Osmeña Highway corner Gil Puyat Avenue also damaged two private vehicles and caused heavy traffic on both lanes.

Makati police identified the injured as Norman Nicolas, Ronald Degano, Jerwin Deocareza, J-Ar Balaquidan and Guillermo Santos Jr., all employees of project contractor DM Consunji Inc. (DMCI).

“We are now attending to our workers and fast tracking the clearing operations to make the affected portions of Osmeña Highway passable to motorists,” DMCI said in a statement.

DMCI said a portion of the rebar cage in Pier 23 of the Skyway extension project (near Cash and Carry Mall) accidentally tipped over, causing debris to fall over the north and south lanes.

“Our safety and technical personnel are also on site to investigate the cause of the accident,” DMCI said. “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this caused the public.”

The incident happened at 9:45 a.m. and the clearing was expected to be finished by 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Police said the windshield of a Toyota Avanza was broken while the rear panel of a Honda Jazz was dented because of the falling debris.

The case has been filed with the Makati police Traffic Investigation Unit./rga