Buried alive

NASIPIT, Agusan del Norte — Up to thirty people were buried alive under broken slabs of concrete and steel while three others were killed after a huge wood-drying kiln they were salvaging steel bars from collapsed on them the other day.

The victims buried under the rubble of the kiln of the bankrupt Nasipit Lumber Co. (Nalco) were scavengers driven by hunger. They had been extracting steel bars from the already weakened building when it caved in on them.

Authorities fear the death toll may rise as debris is cleared from the site of the mishap during rescue operations which entered the second day yesterday.

The dead were identified as Eduardo Catubaran, 16; Rey Panotsol, 21; and Rolando Koskos, 17, all residents of Nasipit. Nine survivors were pulled out from the rubble and brought to the Nasipit District Hospital.

The huge drying kiln chamber of the Nalco building collapsed at 2 p.m. Wednesday, trapping the people extracting steel bars from the concrete walls of the structure under an avalanche of broken concrete and twisted steel.

Survivors said that hours before the kiln collapsed, they heard "cracking sounds." They said they ignored these sounds, as their hunger and desire to earn extra money for food prevailed over their sense of self-preservation.

"We earned as much as P100 to P200 a day from the P9 per kilo of scrap iron we sold to the waiting buyers just outside the (kiln)," survivor Benjie Yubos said.

Yubos said he went to the Nalco kiln site from the neighboring town of Jabonga to try his luck salvaging steel bars from the structure.

Weakened by the removal of the steel beams supporting it, the building collapsed inward, its shattered ceiling raining blocks of concrete on the scavengers. The floors and walls gave way under the combined weight of people and concrete slabs from the collapsed roof.

The building had been condemned and set for demolition before the mishap happened and the scavengers were constantly warned not to enter the structure by local police and other authorities.

"They never listened to our warnings," members of the Nasipit police told The STAR. "They ignored us as we urged them to stay away from the area because of the danger that the building might collapse at any time as they continued to destroy it by pulling the steel bars out of the building."

An infant’s crib was recovered by rescue workers, who frantically dug through the rubble and steel bars to reach an unidentified pregnant woman and her infant, who are both believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Survivors hauled from the debris said the pregnant woman was seen carrying her child on her back as she dug and salvaged what she could from the abandoned kiln to augment the family income. Her husband usually does the heavy work, they said, adding that he was with her but that they do not know if he, too, was buried alive.

Nasipit District Hospital assistant chief Dr. Zosima Padillo identified the wounded as Krenz Malicsi, 14; Benjamin Yubos, 15; Alrey Lanic, 15; Rico Librado, 15; Kevin Alvarez, 12; Cirilo Napoles, 29; Rommel Cordero, 23; Fernando Enhoy, 46; and Domingo Malicsi.

Vendor Camelita Malicsi said her husband, Domingo, and son, Krenz, survived the mishap. According to her, Domingo sometimes earned between P100 and P200 a day by selling the steel bars he salvaged from the NALCO kiln.

"I had warned them of the danger" of salvaging for steel bars in the condemned building, she said, but Domingo and Krenz insisted on trying their luck.

She said that Krenz told her "this (scavenging) is for my paper and school contributions, Mother! It’s already our periodical examination (time)."

In the face of grinding poverty that plagues these far-flung towns, Carmelita said, safety becomes a secondary concern to their daily battle with hunger.

"Many who had come to dig for scrap steel bars come from as far off as (the towns of ) Jabonga, Santiago and Carmen and some (come from) nearby barangays just to earn money for food," she said.

"With no opportunities and jobs around, many have gambled their lives just for a day’s earning to survive," she added.

Once the pride of Agusan del Norte and the seaport town of Nasipit, NALCO was the biggest wood firm in Southeast Asia next to PICOP Resources Inc.

When it began operations in 1968, NALCO employed thousands of workers, who migrated to Nasipit from Davao, Surigao and other provinces, seeking work in the lumber industry.

NALCO ceased operations in 1992, after it went bankrupt due to labor problems, infighting and the worsening peace and order situation in the area as insurgents infested NALCO’s log concession areas.