Storm-fueled landslide in Philippines buries dozens

ITOGON, Philippines — Dozens of people 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 percent” chance 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 66 people in the Philippines and four in China, where it weakened to a tropical storm as it churned inland Monday.

Palangdan said rescuers have recovered 11 bodies from the muddy avalanche, which covered a former bunkhouse that had been turned into a chapel. Dozens of people sought shelter there during the storm despite warnings it was dangerous.

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.

Palangdan said authorities “will not stop until we recover all the bodies.”

On Monday, Mangkhut was still affecting southern China’s coast and the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, and rain and strong winds were expected to continue through Tuesday.

The storm was about 125 miles west of the city of Nanning in Guangxi region on Monday afternoon.