Philippines landslide buries miners
ITOGON, PHILIPPINES — Dozens of people to be believed buried in a landslide unleashed by Typhoon Mangkhut in the Philippines probably did not survive, a mayor said Monday, although rescuers kept digging through mud and debris covering a chapel where they had taken shelter.
Of the 40 to 50 miners and their families believed inside the chapel, there is a “99 per cent” chance that they all were killed, said Mayor Victorio Palangdan of Itogon, the Benguet province town that was among the hardest hit by the typhoon that struck Saturday.
Mangkhut already is confirmed to have killed 69 people in the Philippines and four in China, where it weakened to a tropical storm as it churned inland Monday.
Luzviminda Mazzone, president of the Federation of Filipino Canadian Associations of Quebec, says she hasn’t been able to contact her family in the northern part of the country where the typhoon made landfall. She says she’s praying for her loved ones and frequently checking for updates on the impact of the storm. Mazzone says her association is also planning a fundraiser to support aid efforts.
The United Filipino Canadian Seniors Association of Hamilton says there’s a tight-knit local community of Filipinos who are coming together to support those who have family affected by the typhoon.
Palangdan said rescuers have recovered 11 bodies from the muddy avalanche, which covered a former bunkhouse for the miners that had been turned into a chapel. Dozens of people sought shelter there during the storm despite warnings it was dangerous.
“They laughed at our policemen,” he said. “They were resisting when our police tried to pull them away. What can we do?”
Police and soldiers were among the hundreds of rescuers with shovels and picks searching for the missing along a mountainside as grief-stricken relatives waited nearby, many of them praying quietly. Bodies in black bags were laid side by side. Those identified were carried away by relatives, some using crude bamboo slings.
Jonalyn Felipe said she had called her husband, Dennis, a small-scale gold miner in Itogon, and told him to return to their home in northern Quirino province as the powerful typhoon approached Friday.
“I was insisting because the storm was strong but he told me not to worry because he said they’re safe there,” said a weeping Felipe, adding that her husband was last seen chatting with fellow miners in the chapel before it was hit by the collapsing mountainside.
She said she screamed after hearing the news about her husband, and their four-year-old son sensed what had happened and cried too.