39 missing in building collapse all safe

NASIPIT, Agusan del Norte — Rescue workers wrapped up their operations here yesterday as they pulled out the last concrete slabs of a collapsed building where at least 30 people were earlier reported to have been buried alive last Wednesday.

Local officials led by town Mayor Enrico Corvera said rescuers failed to find any more bodies from the ruins confirming that only two people had been killed in the incident.

Corvera said most of those reported missing have returned home to their families.

"Yesterday, I was informed by barangay captains that all 30 mostly young boys have safely returned home," Corvera told The STAR.

"The search is over! Thank God, we can now rest," Corvera said as he personally thanked the rescue teams and volunteers from the different towns in the Caraga Region who joined in the frantic search for the missing scavengers.

"We really searched for them as relatives and parents have started to worry why their sons have not returned home yet," Corvera added.

Up to 30 people were initially believed to have been buried alive under the rubble of the abandoned kiln of the bankrupt Nasipit Lumber Co. (Nalco) last Wednesday.

Officials said most of the victims were scavengers trying to pull out steel bars from the already weakened building when it caved in on them.

The fatalities were identified as Eduardo Tuburan, 16, and Rey Panotsol, 21, both of Barangay Camagong of the town.

Ten survivors were pulled from the rubble and brought to the Nasipit District Hospital.

Corvera said that he already asked Nalco officials to demolish what remained of the dilapidated structures to avoid another accident.

Corvera admitted the police and Nalco security personnel were not enough to guard the premises of the abandoned facility from scavengers trying to make a living out of selling scrap and second-hand steel bars.

He said the government policy against logging forced some of the residents and workers of Nalco to find ways to earn a living by scavenging from scrap metal.

"The log ban policy (of the government) slowed down the supply of raw materials of Nalco, prompting management to cut manpower needs (and) thus start the trouble with labor groups and infighting within management," he said.

Corvera said Nalco was once the biggest plywood and wallboard maker in Southeast Asia, second only to Paper Industries Corp. of the Philippines (PICOP) Resources, Inc., in Bislig, Surigao del Sur.

He added communist rebels also feasted on the 350,000 hectares of logging concessions in the two Agusan provinces, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and some parts of Butuan City, which finally sealed the fate of Nalco.