Villager killed in CamSur landslide

CONTINUOUS rains brought by tropical depression , triggered early morning on Thursday a landslide that killed one man in a village in Sangay, Camarines Sur, according to the head of the provincial Environment Disaster Management Response Office (Edmero).

Che Bermeo said the victim, Ryan Lasamarenas, was still wrapped in a sleeping blanket when rescuers found him underneath a pile of debris that buried the house where he was staying in Barangay Sibaguan.

His companion, 85-year- old Felipe Olano, however, managed to escape unhurt.

Olano told Christian Verdan, a rescuer-volunteer, that he was able to run out of the house.

A resident of a different barangay ( village) in the same town, also suffered minor injury as a result of another landslide, Bermeo said.

The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management OfficeSangay (MDRRMO) said a total of 14 landslides also occurred in several other villages in the town.

The landslides have rendered the Sangay-Tiwi road, which links Camarines Sur and Albay provinces, still impassable for all types of vehicles.

The Philippine Army, the Philippine National Police in Sangay and the Department of Public Works and Highways-3rd Engineering District have also sent their personnel and equipment for clearing operations in the area, the MDRRMO-Sangay said.

Tropical depression has intensified into a tropical storm while moving westward over the South China Sea, the state-run weather bureau said on late Wednesday.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the storm was located at 365 kilometers west of Coron, Palawan.

It packed maximum sustained winds of up to 65 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 80 kph and is forecast to move west at 16 kph.

Pagasa said moderate to occasionally heavy rains will prevail over Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon because of an interaction between the tropical storm and the northeast monsoon.

Light to moderate with possible occasionally heavy rains during thunderstorms will still prevail over Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon caused by .

The tropical cyclone warning signal has been lifted in all areas that were previously affected.

is expected to be 130 km north- northwest of Pagasa Island in Palawan and would have been outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Thursday night or early morning of Friday.