ONE died and two survived in an incident of gas poisoning on Monday, April 17, at Sitio Fatima, Ucab, Itogon, Benguet inside an impounding tank of tailings owned by Jimmy Bawayan.
The incident was reported to Itogon Police around 3 p.m.
The victims were identified as Allen Dao-as, 24, single, miner; Peter Ticag, 40, married, miner and Benito Lengwa, 26, married and a miner. The victims are all natives of Madongo, Sagada, Mountain Province.
Dao-as was brought to Baguio General Hospital but failed to reach the hospital alive by attending physician Dr. Anabelle Taclobao.
Ticag was brought to Baguio Medical Center and is now recovering while Lengwa was brought to Saint Louis Hospital and is now in good condition but still undergoing medical attention.
Itogon police reported that the victims were hired by Jimmy Bawayan to clean the impounding concrete tank of tailings and started to clean around 2 p.m.
Lengwa was the first who went inside the tank and while he was cleaning, he could hardly breathe so he asked Dao-as to take over.
While Dao-as was inside the tank cleaning, he felt weak due to the effect of chemicals and raised his hands to seek assistance from his two companions.
Lengwa was not able to grasp his hand and Dao-as collapsed inside the tank. This prompted Lengwa and Ticag to rescue him inside the tank but they also felt weak.
Police Senior Inspector Jeffrey Fermin Vicente, officer-in-charge of the Itogon Police, said the two shouted for help and the other miners rescued them and brought them to different hospitals. (Ferdie Cariño Castañeda)