Toxic gas downs four ship cleaners

CEBU, Philippines - Four workers lost consciousness and were rushed to the hospital yesterday morning after inhaling toxic gas while cleaning a docked barge in Barangay Poblacion, Lapu-Lapu City.

Wilbert Bonganciso, Wendyl Leonado, Jedmar Nilo and Jaypee de Castro, all residents of the city, were brought to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.

Their companion, Ernesto Lambot, was spared from the incident and sent home immediately after.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Hadji Samonte of Lapu-Lapu City Fire Department, who was the first to respond to the alarm, said the four victims were about to enter a small hole under the barge when they started to smell some chemical infused in the air.

The chemical was said to be "sulfuric acid."

The vessel, identified as Castor 3, is owned by Concrete Solutions Inc.  and just came from loading scrap materials in an undisclosed mining site before it docked at an area operated by Cebu Barge and Tug Inc. past 9 a.m. yesterday.

Initial investigation showed that a certain Boboy Jumao-as contacted the workers to clean the barge, saying the management intends to inspect it after.

The workers were then told to go down the bottom portion of the barge, called the ballast tank, by way of a small opening, the size of a regular basketball ring.

First to enter was Bonganciso.

But as he entered the hole, he immediately lost his consciousness after the air infused with the poisonous gas was released upwards, Samonte told reporters.

Bonganciso was followed by Leonado, Nilo and then De Castro, and Lambot did not enter the opening upon seeing that his other companions fell on top of each other.

Samonte said the workers did not have any protective gear while cleaning the vessel. He added that the barge should have been ventilated off within 24 hours prior to the maintenance works.

Pantaleon Giangan, maintenance and division repair officer of Concrete Solutions, said he thought that the workers were there only to do steel works and repairs.

Giangan added that on their part, the workers were not given instructions to open the hole.

Another representative from Concrete Solutions, Ronald Laida, said he did not ask Jumao-as to hire laborers to clean the vessel.

Laida said the company is studying to give financial aid to the victims' families, although it has already vowed to finance the medical expenses of the four workers.

In an interview, VSMMC spokesperson Eleodoro Mongaya confirmed that the four were admitted to their hospital yesterday.

He said the patients were already in stable condition. — With May P. Miasco (FREEMAN)