Hopes dim for 17 miners

MANILA, Philippines -  Hopes of finding more survivors dimmed yesterday even as rescuers raced against time in the search for up to 17 people believed trapped after a landslide hit a remote gold-rush area in Pantukan, Compostela Valley on Good Friday.

Rescuers dug out two more bodies from tons of soil and mud yesterday in the frantic search for other miners still unaccounted for more than two days after the landslide.

The official death toll from Friday’s disaster reached five but Pantukan town Mayor Celso Sarenas conceded the chance of finding more survivors was slim.

Thirteen miners have been rescued while 17 are still missing.

Officials identified four of the fatalities as Marjun Guilabtan, 18; Relieto Tabay, 22; Jun Rex Torrejos, 15, and Marvin Anglai.

Soldiers and miners were digging with shovels and hands, and a backhoe from a nearby mining operation was helping in the rescue.

“We have to be realistic,” Sarenas declared. “We believe most of the missing were in their bunkhouses when the landslide occurred.”

Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza said the troops have shifted from search and rescue to retrieval operations in the affected area.

Maj. Jake Obligado, leader of the 120-member military unit undertaking the rescue, also believed the chances of any more survivors being pulled from the debris were next to nil.

“Because of the sheer volume of the debris and the clay soil involved that hardens when mixed with rainwater, it would be difficult for anyone to survive underneath,” Obligado said.

Obligado said Mayor Sarenas, as chairman of the local crisis management committee, has ordered the rescue teams to shift to retrieval operation.

The landslide hit Sitio Panganason, Barangay Kingking, a remote mountain district near Pantukan before dawn Friday after heavy rain, burying illegal gold mines as well as houses, stores and crude gold processing mills.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje ordered the suspension of mining operations in the area following the disaster.

Paje said authorities detected a 70-meter fissure directly above the landslide area.

It was learned that about 30 bunkhouses are located below the fissure that could easily give way and create another landslide.

“It’s really critical,” Paje said. “The mountain slope is highly susceptible to another landslide.”

Paje said he would discuss with local officials how to evacuate the gold miners out of harm’s way.

Despite the danger, hundreds of villagers have dug for gold in narrow dangerous shafts in Kingking for years. Many have ignored warnings and defied occasional government crackdowns on illegal mining by the police and military.

“They tell us they would rather die in a disaster than die of hunger,” Sarenas added.

Paje said he would recommend to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo to take the necessary action and talk to local officials and the military to implement forced evacuation in the area.

Eastern Mindanao Command chief Maj. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero said they would implement the forced evacuation once they receive the order.

Tabaquero admitted though it will be a tough task considering that small-scale miners are known to defy any order to relocate them away from the mining area.

Paje said he and other Cabinet members were under orders from President Aquino to take steps to prevent more deaths in the gold-mining region, which has been hit by deadly accidents in the past.

“The government has the power to carry out a forced evacuation when the danger is really high,” Paje said.

Sarenas estimated there are around 20,000 to 30,000 living in the one-hectare mining area, which can be only reached by motorcycle.

One person was killed and five others were injured in a landslide in the same area last month, while 21 people died when a similar disaster brought on by heavy rains hit the same location in May 2009. –With Alexis Romero, AP