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Sunday, November 07, 2004
Tank gas poisons workers
By Allan I. Varquez
CEBU CITY -- Toxic fumes inside a septic tank of a Lapu-Lapu City resort overwhelmed and killed two people who were cleaning the tank Saturday afternoon.
One of their companions was fished out and survived, but was in critical condition Saturday night at the Mactan Doctors' Hospital.
It was the second case since September in Metro Cebu that laborers paid with their lives for ignoring safety precautions when dealing with septic tanks.
In Saturday's case, Milbert Parana, 18, Rodel Lagrada, 20, and Macario Gudin, 28, were sent by the Cebu Septic Manual Services in Cebu City to check the Shangri-la Mactan Island Resort's septic tank as part of regular maintenance.
Rescue effort
Homicide investigator Senior Police Officer 2 Rolito Jumao-as said Parana and Lagrada did not make it to the hospital alive.
Gudin was in intensive care as of 11 Saturday night.
Almost an hour passed before local divers and personnel from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) fished them out and brought them to the hospital. Hospital records showed the victims arrived at 5 p.m.
Jumao-as said the wastewater inside the tank was already knee-deep when the nozzle of their draining hose got blocked.
Gudin went inside the tank to check, but when he did not come out after several minutes, Parana and Lagrada followed him.
Several minutes later, worried companions called out to them to check but, hearing on answer, called Eruf for help.
All three were unconscious when pulled out from the tank, apparently overwhelmed by the fumes. It was not clear from police accounts if they used any special breathing equipment or other safety gear, to guard against noxious fumes.
Safety check
Though the hotel has no responsibility over the victims, who were not their workers, the management offered to pay for the immediate treatment of the victims, said Neil Rumbaoa, the hotel's communications director.
The accident happened at the hotel's property near the seashore.
"It was a regular maintenance in one of our septic tanks by our contractor," Rumbaoa said in a phone interview.
Lou Penales, a consultant of Cebu Septic Manual Services, said the victims worked in accordance with the safety maintenance policies of the hotel and that no lapses were committed leading to the accident.
He said they have taken care of the hotel's septic tanks for over six years.
"They are like family to us and we are now working on how we can help relatives of those who died," he said.
The accident brought to mind the death of five people inside a residential septic tank in Gaudalupe, Cebu City on July 28 last year.
Four of those who died had jumped inside the tank to rescue homeowner Wilma Badayos.
The one-inch-thick concrete floor that covered her tank caved while she stood on top of it.
The covering did not have supporting steel bars.
Christoper Gabihan, his cousin Jerome, Glenn Pirame and Franklyn Mahayahay rushed to save their neighbor, but they were overwhelmed by the toxic gas and died in the hospital.
(November 7, 2004 issue)
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