POZORRUBIO – A farther and his son were buried alive while building culverts of a 10-meter deep artesian well Monday afternoon in barangay Buneg here.

The fatalities were identified by the police here as Andres Mendoza, 64, and his son Alex, 30, both artesian well builders.

The incident happened at about 5 p.m. at the residence of Domingo Elorde, 47, who hired the father and son to build an artesian well.

While the two were inside the hole, the soil adjacent to the excavation site caved in, burying the two alive, said Chief Inspector Frankie Candelario, chief of the Pozorrubio Police who spearheaded the rescue efforts.

Seeing the two buried alive, Mrs. Elorde called for help initially from her neighbors led by Barangay Captain Fereras but to no avail as it was already pitch dark.

The rescue efforts went a little bit faster with the arrival of policemen who, however, were able to extricate the bodies only at 5 a.m. the following day. (PNA)