By HENRY EMPEÑO | Subic Bay Freeport

THE North Luzon Expressway Corporation (NLEX Corp.) temporarily suspended the construction of a major portion of the P1.6-billion Subic Freeport Expressway (SFEX) expansion project following a worksite accident on Tuesday that killed two workers and injured three others.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the tollway operator said that work at the Jadjad Bridge will be stopped in the meantime to give way to a thorough investigation of the fatal accident and to put more safety measures in place.

“While this is an isolated incident, to further ensure the safety of the remaining workers, we are temporarily suspending construction works at the Jadjad Bridge site until further safety and preventive measures are in place, and to prevent the recurrence of similar unfortunate events,” the statement said.

Investigators from the police office in Hermosa, Bataan, which has jurisdiction over the case, said the accident occurred at about 1:20 p.m. on Tuesday when an 18-meter long steel girder collapsed and fell off a column for some yet undetermined reason.

Photos from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) showed that one end of the steel framework, which is part of the superstructure of the bridge under construction, had crashed onto the ground below while another end still rested atop a concrete column.

Police identified the fatalities as Vivencio Pamisa and Marvin Tajores, and those injured as Joel Pitel, John Ray Salatan, and Peter Pahilan, all employees of the project contractor Sta. Clara International Corp. who were then working below the bridge under construction.

Pamisa, 57 years old and resident of Cagayan de Oro City, and Tajores, 41, of Masinloc, Zambales, who were both scaffold workers, were reportedly pinned to death when the steel structure crashed.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma, who rushed to the accident site, said the victims’ bodies were retrieved hours later in a joint operation by the NLEX Corp. emergency responders and the SBMA Fire Department’s Rescue Team.

“We hope that a thorough investigation would uncover the cause and prevent a similar disaster from happening again,” Eisma said in a statement.

According to the NLEX Corp., initial investigation indicated that, “despite all safety precautions and procedures being in place, a steel girder collapsed for a yet undetermined cause.”  

“Further investigation on the cause of the accident is still being thoroughly conducted,” it added.

The NLEX Corp also assured the families of the affected workers that “assistance will be provided at this unfortunate time.”

The construction of another two-lane span alongside the existing Jadjad Bridge is one of the major components of the P1.6-billion Subic Freeport Expressway (SFEX) Capacity Expansion Project, which was launched in July last year to further ease motoring in and out of this growing business and leisure hub.

The road widening works entailed the construction of additional lanes to convert the 8.8-kilometer road into a four-lane highway, boring through the mountainside to create another two-lane tunnel beside the existing one, and construction of new bridge spans alongside the Jadjad and Argonaut bridges.

NLEX Corp. contracted out the expansion project to Sta. Clara International Corporation, which also constructed the original Tipo Road leading to the Subic Bay Freeport. ~