Landslide kills 2 in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA City, Philippines - Two siblings died in a landslide that buried three homes in a village west coast of this city Saturday morning.

City police director Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo identified the fatalities as Agustin Kaluuyan, 14 and his 6-year-old sister Ayen, who were buried by the landslide that struck their home.

The landslide took place at around 7:30 a.m. in Sitio Cumati, Baragay Limpapa, 42 kilometers away from the city proper.

Another resident was hurt and rushed to a nearby hospital in Barangay Labuan.

Police the said the siblings' parents were both away when their home was struck by the landslide. Their father went on fishing while their mother was visiting the health center.

The occupants of the two other houses destroyed by the landslide were also out.

“We heard loud humming sound and the loose ground came down crashing into the houses," Christopher Antonio, a neighbor of the victims, said in Filipino.

Mayor Isabel Climaco-Salazar, who went to the site, said that the landslide had blocked the road and temporarily hampered traffic.

Salazar said assistance have been provided to the victims displaced by the calamity.

She said residents dwelling in the river banks and in other flood- and landslide-prone areas have been alerted days before the incident due to the bad weather conditions in the region.

The authorities, meanwhile, were also monitoring a hamlet east of the city as the ground in the area has also started to cave in due to continuous rains.