Number of Diwalwal casualties still unclear

DAVAO CITY — The total number of casualties in the Oct. 26 collapse of a tunnel at the gold-rush site in Mt. Diwalwal in Monkayo, Compostela Valley remains unclear due to conflicting reports.

According to the Office of Civil Defense, the death toll has reached 32 as eight more bodies were recovered last Thursday.

The remains of two more miners were retrieved from the Sunshine portal of JB Management Corp. last Saturday morning, bringing to 19 the total number of bodies actually recovered, as another tally claimed. Thirteen more miners are believed still trapped inside the tunnel.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who chairs the Regional Peace and Order Council, said there are efforts to determine exactly how many died in the accident due to the discrepancies.

"There is a power struggle among the mining groups in the area and it is affecting the report on how many actually died. I really want to know the real score as to how many really died," he said.

Duterte urged the management of JB Mining Corp. to be more open in reporting the actual number of casualties and those who remain missing.

Three of the six miners, whose bodies were recovered last Friday, were reportedly not in the list of those believed trapped inside the tunnel.

Six more bodies were retrieved yesterday by the rescue and retrieval team of the RDCC and volunteers from Lepanto Mining Corp. and Philex Mining Co., both based in Northern Luzon.

The remains belonged to Jory Deocampo, Roque Aninon, Mardonio Sistona Jr., Rudy Susillo, Nelson Tugamog and Lyndon Miguel.

Miguel was reportedly the fifth member of his family who died in the tunnel collapse.

Duterte visited the mining site last Friday to give out financial assistance of P10,000 to the families of each of the victims, as President Arroyo earlier had promised.

Authorities are awaiting the results of tests done by a gas detector device to determine what exactly caused the tragedy.

"There are so many versions of the story. We want to know what really caused it and find ways of how it could be prevented in the future," Duterte said.