Search for trash slide victims ends
But victim's family wants it to continue
THE Philippine flag at the Cebu City Hall is in half-mast in memory of the trash slide victims. (Mayor Nestor Archival FB)
CEBU CITY – Authorities have announced that all victims from the trash slide in Barangay Binaliw here have already been accounted for.
But for the family of one of the victims, the search is not over yet.
Relatives of chemical engineer Frederick Lee Deximo urged responders to continue the search as only the upper half of his body was recovered.
In an interview with Ramil Ayuman, former chief of the City Risk Reduction and Management Office, Hannah Lee, Deximo’s cousin, questioned why the search was ended when the entire remains of the victim have yet to be found.
The family suspected that the body was cut into half when it was struck by a backhoe that was used to scour the structure that was pinned down by an avalanche of garbage last Jan. 8.
Lee said the remains have been turned over to a funeral parlor but the family declined to accept them until the upper body is recovered.
On Sunday, Jan. 18, or 10 days after the tragedy struck, Chief Supt. Fred Trajeras Jr., regional director of Bureau of Fire Protection-Central Visayas, announced that all victims have been recovered.
The tragedy claimed 26 lives and injured 18.
The last fatality was recovered at 5:41 a.m. on Sunday, Trajeras said.
Lee said they are seeking the intervention of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and local officials to help locate the missing remains of their relative.