Authorities investigate bunkhouse collapse; contractor to pay expenses

The Department of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas (DOLE) and the Office of the Building Official (OBO) are conducting an investigation after a four-level bunkhouse in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, collapsed past 2 a.m. on Tuesday.

“This is the first time a bunkhouse in Cebu City collapsed. We need to look into what happened,”Cyril Ticao, the officer in charge of the DOLE-7.

Five construction workers were pinned to death while four others were critically injured when the bunkhouse where they stayed crumbled, said Nagiel Bañacia, chief of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office.

Engr. Butch Abaya, the project engineer of J.E. Abraham Lee Construction, said the company will shoulder all the expenses of the victims.

“We want to know what happened because we believe the structure built in September 2018 was stable,” he said.

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