By Calvin D. Cordova CEBU CITY—A 28-year-old man and his 17-year-old nephew were buried alive when a tunnel collapsed in Barangay Talamban Sunday morning. CEBU CITY—A 28-year-old man and his 17-year-old nephew were buried alive when a tunnel collapsed in Barangay Talamban Sunday morning. PHOTO BY JUAN CARLO DE VELA/ MANILA BULLETIN Ramy Cadampog and his nephew were extracting sand some 15 meters from a river when the tunnel caved in, said Talamban Barangay Captain Dario Arcilla. The name of Cadampog’s nephew was not made available as of press time. The tunnel collapsed past 9 a.m. and it was shortly before 2 p.m. that the bodies were recovered. Rescuers from the Bureau of Fire Protection and the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office had to use a backhoe to retrieve their bodies. The victims were buried about 20 feet deep, Arcilla said. Arcilla said the mother of the 17-year-old boy reprimanded him not to haul sand since he was prohibited from going out of the house because of the current enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). “The boy proceeded maybe because their situation is already difficult. They don’t have money to buy rice,” Arcilla said. Arcilla said hauling of sand in the area was prohibited. “There had been several apprehensions here because it was illegal to extract sand here. In this case, no one saw them because they were in the tunnel,” said Arcilla. The tunnel was formed because of the rampant sand extraction in the area, Arcilla said.