Compostela landslide: 3 killed

MANILA, Philippines - Rescuers resumed the search for survivors of the landslide that hit a small-scale mining community in Barangay Kingking, Pantukan, Compostela Valley province on Good Friday.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has placed the death toll at three, with 10 injured and 22 missing.

Pantukan Mayor Celso Sarenas said last Friday that 27 bodies were found, but later issued a statement that he has been misinformed by health workers.

“So far 22 are reported missing but there could be more because there are some transients who arrived but did not register,” Sarenas said.

Shanties have mushroomed around Kingking after a gold rush in the area nearly 20 years ago. Many of the mining operations were illegal and unregulated, and there have been frequent accidents.

“An Army brigade with heavy equipment, two helicopters along with elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the local rescue teams have been committed to the area for the search and rescue operations,” NDRRMC executive officer and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) administrator Benito Ramos said.

Rescuers, who initially safely rescued four trapped miners, have so far recovered three bodies but only one has been identified - Jun Rex Torrejos, 15, of La Filipina, Tagum City.

The landside induced by heavy rains resulted in serious injuries to 10 other miners, five of them now confined at the Pantukan Emergency Hospital and five at Davao Medical Center in Tagum City.

Local folk usually do full-blast mining operations during Good Friday in the belief that mineral deposits like gold are easily extracted, unlike on ordinary days.

“Due to heavy rains, a landslide occurred at about 2:30 a.m. and apparently the trapped 22 small-scale miners were inside a tunnel that also collapsed,” Ramos said.

He said K-9 trackers have been deployed to help rescue teams pinpoint the location of the missing miners.

Ramos said that contrary to earlier reports that 10 perished in the landslide, they are not declaring anything yet as long as the missing miners are not recovered.

“It is only the Department of Health (DOH) who has the authority to declare how many died, how many survived. But that would only come after our search and recovery operation in the area is over,” he said.

Mining suspended

Because of the incident, Compostela Valley Gov. Arthur Uy suspended for 30 days the small-scale mining activities in the province.

Uy said the suspension was necessary to allow the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to assess the hazards and risks in the mining sites in the province and not just in Pantukan.

The governor also ordered the strict implementation of a local memorandum prohibiting locals to reside within mining sites.

Landslides have been recurring in the Compostela Valley mining sites especially during heavy rains. The region has lately been experiencing a low pressure area that has brought about incessant rains and caused floods and landslides in different areas.

The US-based, Canadian-listed mining firm St. Augustine Gold & Copper Ltd. and the Philippines’ Nationwide Development Corp. said the landslide happened in a remote area some distance away from where they were conducting environmental and engineering studies.

On its website, St. Augustine said the Kingking prospect is one of the largest underdeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world. The government’s mines bureau has listed Kingking as one of its priority investment projects.

“As quickly as it is feasible and safe, we will offer our assistance to help determine the cause of the incident,” the companies said in a joint statement, also offering their assistance in search and rescue operations. “Tragically, landslides of this sort are common throughout this area due to unstable slopes and frequent heavy rains,” they added.

Two years ago, a landslide in another part of the village killed more than 20 people, including some children. Residents had been ordered to relocate due to the instability of the land and risk of landslides. - With Perseus Echeminada, Edith Regalado, AP