TRAGEDY AT DALAGUETE COAL MINE: Methane blast kills 8 miners

A methane gas explosion in a Thai-owned coal mine in Dalaguete killed at least two miners Saturday night while six others buried when a tunnel collapsed are now also feared dead.

Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Allan Cesante yesterday confirmed the deaths in a talk with The Freeman following a visit to the site of the tragedy with Department of Energy regional director Antonio Labios.

Cesante said the coal mine, located in barangay Dumalan some 20 kilometers inland from the town proper of Dalaguete, which is itself 85 kilometers south of Cebu City, is owned and operated by Ibalong Resources Development Corporation, a Thai mining company.

The mines used to be owned by the Manguerra family of Cebu prior to its sale to the Thai firm.

Police identified the two confirmed deaths as those of Boyet Geraldez and Henrino Zuñiga, both natives of the town.

They also identified the six trapped miners as Francisco Ybañez, Nelson Villasis, Jaime Sanchez, Manuel Lanogan, Antonio Jose and Gregorio Amad.

Buried some 400 to 500 meters inside the tunnel from the entrance, Cesante said hopes are dim for their safe rescue.

Rescuers said at least 50 tons of earth and other debris block the way to the six trapped miners and, by late afternoon yesterday, acknowledged fears that they may already be dead and consequently downgraded rescue efforts to a retrieval operation.

Geraldez and Zuñiga were about 250 meters from the entrance to the tunnel when the explosion occurred at around 7 p.m. Saturday. The other six were much farther inside.

Cesante said the rescuers had great difficulty breaching the collapsed earth for lack of any equipment. Most of the excavation work had to be done manually, he said.

Cesante said there is still no clear cause of the explosion but the suspicion is that it was caused when a concentration of methane gas was ignited by a still undetermined spark.

The highly explosive methane gas is formed when a colorless, odorless highly inflammable hydrocarbon, CH4, gets mixed with air.

Dalaguete police officer Cleto Pia said at least 40 miners took part in the rescue but that the effort was hampered by heavy rains.

The victims of the explosion all belonged to the 4 p.m. shift and were to have come out by midnight. Eleven other miners who were supposed to be part of the same shift failed to report for work, and that apparently saved their lives.

Only last July 28, a rain-induced collapse at one tunnel of the same coal mine killed one miner and injured three others.

One of the worst mining disasters this year was on October 28 at a gold mine in Mt. Diwalwal in Compostela Valley. In that tragedy, an explosion killed at least 50 miners and injured many others.