At least 6 killed, over 40 missing as landslide hits Mindanao mining town

SIX BODIES have been retrieved, while at least 40 other people remain missing at the site of Tuesday night’s landslide that knocked off and buried two buses parked on the road of the upland mining town of Maco, Davao de Oro province in the Southern Philippines.

Rescue efforts continued through rains at the muddy mountainside on Wednesday as the number of injured people — mostly mining workers on their way home from their Tuesday afternoon shift — rose to 31.

The landslide happened just outside the gold mine site of Apex Mining Co, Inc. in the village of Masara, the mining operator said in a statement.

The area has been a vehicle terminal for buses and jeepneys servicing its employees as well as members of the community, the company added.

The village, which had a population of 1,125 as of May 2020, was also the site of two landslides in September 2008 that killed 24 people and left two missing.

“Just before the landslide, there were four 60-seater buses and one 36 pax-capacity jeepney waiting for the outgoing employees,” the company said.

It added that one bus had left for Mawab town “while the rest were still waiting when the landslide occurred.”

The company said at least 62 of its employees had been accounted for as of 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, while it was still tracing the whereabouts of 45 others.

By 2 p.m., the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) of Maco said six bodies had been dug up from the landslide, while 758 families in the surrounding area were staying at evacuation centers.

Responders were immediately deployed on Tuesday night, but rescue operations were halted around 1 a.m. on Wednesday due to hazardous conditions, the MDRRMO said.

The Philippine military’s eastern Mindanao command said in a 2:15 am report on Wednesday that 86 people had been trapped due to the landslide.

DISASTER AID RELEASED

Areas in Davao region, also in Mindanao, had experienced massive flooding following rains that began on Jan. 28, prompting President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to order on Wednesday the release of P265 million from his presidential social fund to assist affected families.

Earlier, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center (NDRRMC) reported that the death toll from the flooding had risen to 18.

Speaking at a situation briefing in Davao City during the President’s visit Wednesday, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the fund ordered for release is on top of the emergency cash assistance that he had been authorized earlier.

The provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao de Oro, and Agusan del Sur will receive P30 million each, while the provinces of Surigao del Sur and Maguindanao del Sur will get P25 million each.

Davao City, Butuan City, and the province of Davao Occidental will receive P20 million each, while P15 million was earmarked for the province of Agusan del Norte.

The provinces of Cotabato and Bukidnon were set to receive P10 million each.

The continued rains have affected 324,040 families — over 200,000 of whom were displaced — in five regions in Mindanao such as Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Soccsksargen, Caraga, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. —