Lost at Mt. Talinis in Valencia, Negros Oriental: Police teams rescue six mountaineers

DUMAGUETE CITY ,Philippines  - All six neophyte mountaineers, who Thursday afternoon alerted authorities that they lost their way back and got stranded up in Mt. Talinis of Valencia town in Negros Oriental, have been rescued yesterday afternoon.

A combined search and rescue teams of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office and the Valencia Police and municipal government found the group at about 2:45 p.m. yesterday, and reported that all six were safe and in good physical condition.

Authorities said that at an estimated time of between 4 and 4:30 p.m. yesterday, they were expected to arrive at the Valencia Police Station for debriefing and documentation.

Angelo Tiongson, chair of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said his office received a report Thursday evening that the mountaineers, one of who was identified as Carl Consing, were stranded in Mt. Talinis and could not find their way back to Dumaguete City.

According to PNA News, Yuri Consing, Carl's sister, said her last communication with her brother was at 2 a.m. Friday. She said her brother and his companions, all first-time trekkers, were holed up beside a sulphuric river in Mt. Talinis.

Yuri said Carl and five others, whose identities cannot be ascertained as of press time, left early Wednesday for their trek to Mt. Talinis and were expected to return 4 p.m. Thursday.

Heavy rains however caused poor visibility on their tracks and they could no longer find their way back, said Yuri.

Early Friday morning, a group of local mountaineers, headed by Ryan Equio, search for the stranded group along the trail in Apolong, Valencia while another group, the Negros Oriental Search and Rescue team headed by Alejandro Somoza, took the Dauin town trail for the same purpose.

Engineer Dwight Maxino, resident manager of the Energy Development Corporation-Southern Negros Geothermal Production Field in Valencia, told The FREEMAN that they also send their Emergency Rescue Team to help in the search for the lost mountaineers.

Meanwhile, heavy and continuous rains have inundated Dumaguete City, Valencia and many parts of Negros Oriental since Thursday as typhoon Chedeng entered the Philippine's area of responsibility, although the province has not been directly hit by the storm.

Latest report yesterday afternoon stated that the spillway at Palinpinon in Valencia has already overflowed, and no longer passable to any vehicle.