A BUS ride from Cebu City to Tabogon town on a Saturday may be exhausting for some, but Joel Brobo always looked forward to it as it meant sharing a home-cooked meal with his family.
Yesterday, though, the 41-year-old construction worker never made it home, let alone board the bus.
Brobo was killed when a landslide struck Sitio Back GMA in Barangay Apas, Cebu City.
A boulder had pinned him down, prompting the crew from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) and Bureau of Fire Protection Search and Rescue Unit to extricate his body.
Nagiel Bañacia, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, said Brobo was making a riprap wall for the two-story house he and his colleagues were working on.
According to his colleagues, it was around 5:15 p.m. when Brobo decided to call it a day and rinse off the dirt on his limbs when the incident happened.
"It was a freak accident brought about by the heavy rains. His colleagues said Brobo was actually looking forward to going home. He usually leaves his workplace around 5 p.m.," Bañacia told SunStar Cebu.
Eruf personnel tried to revive Brobo, but he had no pulse and was not breathing by 6:40 p.m., Bañacia said.
Brobo was rushed to Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), where he was declared dead on arrival.
Last week, an 11-year-old boy was also declared dead on arrival by doctors at the CCMC.
Kyle Ashley Barcoso, a Grade 5 pupil, was killed when a landslide struck Purok 3 in Barangay San Jose.
He was also pinned down by a boulder, prompting the crew from Ambulance 1 of City Ambulance Service to call for help from search and rescue personnel of the Eruf.
The grandfather of the fatality, identified as Juanito Barcoso, 62, was rescued from their destroyed house about an hour after the incident.
He suffered minor injuries in his right leg.