Sultan Kudarat landslide kills 2

Koronadal City – A landslide triggered by strong winds and continued heavy rainfall left two men dead and another injured and forced a number of families to evacuate to safer grounds in a remote community in Sultan Kudarat last Wednesday afternoon.

Senior Superintendent Suharto Tocao, Sultan Kudarat police director, said the landslide struck Sitio Kamoloy, Barangay Bai Serapinang in Bagumbayan town.

Tocao quoted Senior Inspector Crisostomo Solarte, Bagumbayan police chief, as saying that one of three villagers reported missing in the landslide has been found and is now confined at the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Hospital in Isulan town.

Tocao could not confirm the two fatalities though. But reports said the two were working in an illegal gold mine when rocks and mud buried their makeshift shelter. 

Sultan Kudarat Gov. Datu Suharto Mangudadatu has instructed the provincial social welfare and development office to assist the landslide victims.

Torrential rains have swelled rivers crisscrossing Central Mindanao, leaving many low-lying areas in more than a dozen barangays flooded.     – With John Unson