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Friday, June 22, 2007
2 killed, 1 missing in Clark oil depot collapse
By Reynaldo G. Navales
CLARK FREEPORT -- Two persons were buried alive while another was missing after the Coastal Petroleum oil depot in Barangay Sapang Bato, Angeles City collapsed late Wednesday afternoon.
Senior Superintendent Nicanor Targa, head of the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) Security and Fire Department, identified the fatalities as Renato Medina, 38, and Renato Genese, 27. He said the two were believed buried alive while trying to strip off the steel cover of the oil depot.
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Five other individuals, meanwhile, escaped unhurt. Two of the five were identified as Renato Pring and Reynaldo Quilala, while the three others have yet to be named.
Rescuers retrieved the bodies of the two dead victims at 8:45 a.m. Thursday, while teams searched for the remaining victim, identified as Jonel Cunanan, 24, Targa said.
He said the collapsed oil depot was about 32 feet deep and 134 feet in diameter.
Targa said they received reports at 3 p.m. Wednesday that individuals were trapped inside the oil depot after it collapsed.
The 64th squadron search and rescue team of the Philippine Air Force based inside Clark Freeport immediately responded to the site to rescue the trapped people.
Initial investigation showed that the eight individuals, believed to be scavengers, went inside the oil depot at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. They immediately went to work and tried to strip off the steel ceiling of the depot, until it gave way, causing the three victims to be buried by rubble.
According to Targa, there are at least nine oil depots belonging to Coastal Petroleum, three of which are abandoned and could no longer be used for storage of oil.
He said scavengers went inside one of the three abandoned depots to get scrap materials. The victims were residents of Barangay Sapang Bato, located a few meters away from the fence of Clark Freeport Zone. (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (June 22, 2007 issue)
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