DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 6, 2012) – The Philippine military said rescue operations continued on Friday in the southern town of Pantukan where 25 people had been buried alive in a landslide that struck a small mining community.
More troops were sent to augment local rescuers in then operations that included the retrieval of corpses in the village of Napnapan. Other reports said as many as 150 people are missing and feared to have been buried alive.
Army Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, of the 10th Infantry Division, said efforts are going on to search for those who were reported missing in the landslide that occurred on Thursday.
“There are 25 dead bodies reported while the 10th Civil Military Operations Battalion confirmed that 22 bodies were retrieved, seven of whom are still to be identified,” she said.
Army Major Jacob Thaddeus Obligado, commander of the 10th Civil-Military Operation Battalion, said that 16 victims, who sustained injuries, were rescued from the village. Nine of them, including one who is critically injured, were brought to hospital, he said.
“We are working hand in hand with the police and the local government of Pantukan and other organizations for the retrieval of the victims,” he said.
But the lack of equipment, Obligado said, is hampering the recovery of those who perished in the tragedy. “We have to do it without the aid of heavy equipment such as backhoe which could have been very useful in recovering the buried bodies. The gradient location of the area makes it more difficult for the rescuers and the instability of the soil, being a mining area, adds to the difficulty in the operation,” he said.
The landslide struck the village of Napnapan where small scale miners have operated the past years despite repeated government warnings to stay away from the area due to dangers pose by illegal tunnels and erosion.
Governor Arturo Uy said the landslide occurred at around 3 a.m. burying many houses in the mining area called Diat 1. (Mindanao Examiner)
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