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| DEATH PLUNGE. A service platform at the 28th floor of the Eton Residences on Paseo de Roxas corner Gallardo Street in Makati City collapsed on Thursday, plunging 10 construction workers to their deaths. (Inset) Rescuers retrieve the bodies of the workers. RODEL ROTONI |
MANILA, Philippines—An urban nightmare played out to a horrified lunchtime crowd at the Makati central business district Thursday as cables of an overloaded gondola at a construction site snapped, plunging 10 workers aboard to their deaths, authorities said.
The gondola, a motorized steel basket-like platform, plummeted as it was coming down from the 28th floor at the Eton Residences Greenbelt, crashing to a halt at the seventh floor and throwing out its 11 passengers.
Only one worker survived the accident at the 39-story premium residential condominium undergoing construction on Gallardo Street in Legaspi Village. He identified himself to responding firemen as Rowel Perez, 23, before he was rushed to Ospital ng Makati, where the other victims were taken.
Guillermo Torres, project manager, said it was actually difficult to determine from which floor the gondola originated. “Only the survivor could give an accurate account on where they actually came from.”
Dead on the spot were Joel Abesilla, Celso Mabuting, Michael Tatlonghari, Kevin Mabunga, Borz Cristobal, Rommel Perez, Vicente Piñon, William Bañez, Jaykie Legada and Jeffrey Diocado, according to Senior Fire Officer 2 Gerson Moncada of the Makati Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
Moncada said the gondola was carrying more than its capacity of two persons at the time of the accident at lunch break.
Overloaded
“According to an eyewitness account, the workers rode the gondola instead of taking the stairs during their break time. However, since the platform can only carry a few workers, the cable snapped,” Eton said in a statement.
Denny Villanueva, a driver at a neighboring building, said he saw the gondola as it was hurtling down.
“It dropped so fast. They were all crammed inside. They were probably hitching a ride down for lunch,” Villanueva said.
Another witness, food stall attendant Mary Ann Centro, 34, said the gondola hit the seventh floor with a terrible sound—“so loud I thought the building had collapsed.”
“I started to scream, too, as passersby pointed and shrieked, ‘Tulungan niyo mga tao!’ (‘Help those people!’),” Centro said.
When she stepped out from her stall, she saw two bodies hanging from the debris catcher wire mesh.
Centro said work on the construction site had been going on for a year and there was only one major accident. “Last year, a steel bar fell on a car, but no one was hurt,” she said.
Broken limbs
FO1 Jomar Jumawan, one of the BFP rescuers, said the victims—all glass installers of Arlo Aluminum under contract with Eton—had broken limbs and bloodied heads.
“Six victims were piled up on the debris catcher. Two were sprawled on the floor below it. Three victims were found on the edge of the eighth floor,” Jumawan said in Filipino.
SFO1 Frankie Romaraog of the BFP-Emergency Medical Services said Perez, the lone survivor, had a dislocated shoulder. “There was blood on his head, and oozing out of his nose,” said Romaraog, who still had blood on his gloves.
It took rescuers at least two hours to retrieve all the bodies. Three hours after the accident, the red gondola, splayed out and broken, could still be seen suspended on the seventh floor.
Eton spokesperson Erwin de Pedro later arrived at the construction site and read the company’s statement.
“Our hearts go out to the victims’ families. Eton Properties would like to assure the public that the company is doing all it can to ensure that Eton and its contractor extend all necessary assistance to the victims,” De Pedro said.
Safety investigation
When informed by the media that the city engineer’s office had ordered the stoppage of the construction, De Pedro said: “We have yet to talk to our contractor about that, but we will cooperate with any investigation by the government.”
Moncada identified the contractor as CE Construction. The project was under manager Guillier Torres, he said.
De Pedro entered the building with the Department of Labor and Employment occupational safety engineer, who had come to inspect the site for safety regulation violations.
The spokesperson stressed that Eton placed a premium on safety and enforced strict safety regulations in all its construction projects.
But due to the accident, Eton is reviewing the compliance of its contractors and construction management consultant to these safety regulations, De Pedro said.
“Eton, its contractors and construction management consultant are cooperating with police authorities and the city engineer’s office as they investigate the cause of this accident. In the meantime, the company’s priority is to ensure that the victims’ families are informed and extended needed assistance by the contractor,” De Pedro said.
Palace sympathies
Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay ordered work at the site suspended “until we are sure that the workers there are safe.”
“We extend our sympathies to the families of those who were tragically killed in the accident. Nobody would like an accident like this to happen, even the owners of the building,” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.
The labor department said it had sent inspectors to the Eton site to investigate compliance with safety standards.
“We’ll see if the accident that happened was related to the conduct of their work and if the construction firm is liable,” said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.
Lucio Tan Group
The company’s website describes Eton as the global real estate arm of the Lucio Tan Group and a sister company of Philippine National Bank and Philippine Airlines. It says the company also has operations in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
The Philippines, particularly Metro Manila, has been experiencing a construction boom since last year, boosted by low interest rates, the large amount of foreign remittances from 9 million Filipinos working abroad and the need for more office space to accommodate the country’s growing outsourcing industry. With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Jerome Aning, Doris C. Dumlao, Miko Morelos and Associated Press
Article taken here.
The gondola, a motorized steel basket-like platform, plummeted as it was coming down from the 28th floor at the Eton Residences Greenbelt, crashing to a halt at the seventh floor and throwing out its 11 passengers.
Only one worker survived the accident at the 39-story premium residential condominium undergoing construction on Gallardo Street in Legaspi Village. He identified himself to responding firemen as Rowel Perez, 23, before he was rushed to Ospital ng Makati, where the other victims were taken.
Guillermo Torres, project manager, said it was actually difficult to determine from which floor the gondola originated. “Only the survivor could give an accurate account on where they actually came from.”
Dead on the spot were Joel Abesilla, Celso Mabuting, Michael Tatlonghari, Kevin Mabunga, Borz Cristobal, Rommel Perez, Vicente Piñon, William Bañez, Jaykie Legada and Jeffrey Diocado, according to Senior Fire Officer 2 Gerson Moncada of the Makati Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
Moncada said the gondola was carrying more than its capacity of two persons at the time of the accident at lunch break.
Overloaded
“According to an eyewitness account, the workers rode the gondola instead of taking the stairs during their break time. However, since the platform can only carry a few workers, the cable snapped,” Eton said in a statement.
Denny Villanueva, a driver at a neighboring building, said he saw the gondola as it was hurtling down.
“It dropped so fast. They were all crammed inside. They were probably hitching a ride down for lunch,” Villanueva said.
Another witness, food stall attendant Mary Ann Centro, 34, said the gondola hit the seventh floor with a terrible sound—“so loud I thought the building had collapsed.”
“I started to scream, too, as passersby pointed and shrieked, ‘Tulungan niyo mga tao!’ (‘Help those people!’),” Centro said.
When she stepped out from her stall, she saw two bodies hanging from the debris catcher wire mesh.
Centro said work on the construction site had been going on for a year and there was only one major accident. “Last year, a steel bar fell on a car, but no one was hurt,” she said.
Broken limbs
FO1 Jomar Jumawan, one of the BFP rescuers, said the victims—all glass installers of Arlo Aluminum under contract with Eton—had broken limbs and bloodied heads.
“Six victims were piled up on the debris catcher. Two were sprawled on the floor below it. Three victims were found on the edge of the eighth floor,” Jumawan said in Filipino.
SFO1 Frankie Romaraog of the BFP-Emergency Medical Services said Perez, the lone survivor, had a dislocated shoulder. “There was blood on his head, and oozing out of his nose,” said Romaraog, who still had blood on his gloves.
It took rescuers at least two hours to retrieve all the bodies. Three hours after the accident, the red gondola, splayed out and broken, could still be seen suspended on the seventh floor.
Eton spokesperson Erwin de Pedro later arrived at the construction site and read the company’s statement.
“Our hearts go out to the victims’ families. Eton Properties would like to assure the public that the company is doing all it can to ensure that Eton and its contractor extend all necessary assistance to the victims,” De Pedro said.
Safety investigation
When informed by the media that the city engineer’s office had ordered the stoppage of the construction, De Pedro said: “We have yet to talk to our contractor about that, but we will cooperate with any investigation by the government.”
Moncada identified the contractor as CE Construction. The project was under manager Guillier Torres, he said.
De Pedro entered the building with the Department of Labor and Employment occupational safety engineer, who had come to inspect the site for safety regulation violations.
The spokesperson stressed that Eton placed a premium on safety and enforced strict safety regulations in all its construction projects.
But due to the accident, Eton is reviewing the compliance of its contractors and construction management consultant to these safety regulations, De Pedro said.
“Eton, its contractors and construction management consultant are cooperating with police authorities and the city engineer’s office as they investigate the cause of this accident. In the meantime, the company’s priority is to ensure that the victims’ families are informed and extended needed assistance by the contractor,” De Pedro said.
Palace sympathies
Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay ordered work at the site suspended “until we are sure that the workers there are safe.”
“We extend our sympathies to the families of those who were tragically killed in the accident. Nobody would like an accident like this to happen, even the owners of the building,” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.
The labor department said it had sent inspectors to the Eton site to investigate compliance with safety standards.
“We’ll see if the accident that happened was related to the conduct of their work and if the construction firm is liable,” said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.
Lucio Tan Group
The company’s website describes Eton as the global real estate arm of the Lucio Tan Group and a sister company of Philippine National Bank and Philippine Airlines. It says the company also has operations in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
The Philippines, particularly Metro Manila, has been experiencing a construction boom since last year, boosted by low interest rates, the large amount of foreign remittances from 9 million Filipinos working abroad and the need for more office space to accommodate the country’s growing outsourcing industry. With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Jerome Aning, Doris C. Dumlao, Miko Morelos and Associated Press
Article taken here.
