5 hurt as beam at Skyway project site collapses

Workers rush to repair the reinforced coping beam which collapsed on Osmeña Highway in Makati City on Tuesday. The structure is part of the Skyway 3 project that will connect Buendia to Balintawak, Quezon City. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Five construction workers were injured when the coping beam at the construction site of the Skyway Stage 3 project in Makati City collapsed on Tuesday morning.

The incident on Osmeña Highway corner Gil Puyat Avenue also damaged two private vehicles and caused heavy traffic on both lanes.

The Makati police identified the injured as Norman Nicolas, Ronald Degano, Jerwin Deocareza, J-Ar Balaquidan and Guillermo Santos Jr., all employees of DM Consunji Inc.

“We are now attending to our workers and fast tracking the clearing operations to make the affected portions of Osmeña Highway passable to motorists,” DMCI, the project contractor, said in a statement.

It added that a portion of the rebar cage in Pier 23 of the Skyway extension project (near Cash and Carry Mall) accidentally tipped over, causing debris to fall on the north and south lanes.

The incident happened at 9:45 a.m. As of 3:35 p.m., both lanes of Osmeña Highway-Buendia flyover were open to vehicles, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said in an update.

The Makati Police Traffic Investigation Unit has started looking into the incident. –Erika Sauler