Lahar, landslides kill 10

MANILA, Philippines - Seven people, including three French tourists, were killed when they were swept away by lahar from Mt. Pinatubo in Capas, Tarlac, while three boys died yesterday morning when their house was buried by a landslide in Baguio City after heavy rains spawned by typhoon “Kiko” hit Luzon.

Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz, director of the Central Luzon police, confirmed that three French tourists, a Filipino tourist guide, a local stone cutter, a barangay tanod and another resident were killed while six other French tourists and three South Korean hikers were rescued after lahar swept through the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo on the Capas side of the volcano last Thursday afternoon.

De la Cruz identified the three French fatalities as Martine Cholet, Walter Steylian and Thierry Chailot.

He said two of the Filipino victims were identified as tourist guide Orlando Fernando and barangay tanod Fidel Reila, who drowned Thursday night while assisting in the rescue operations for the tourists.

The other still unidentified tourist guide of the French group, remained missing.

Officials earlier identified the victims as Canadians but police later confirmed that they were French.

French Embassy Consul Arnold Rayar told the Associated Press that he spoke with the survivors and they confirmed they were French.

Dela Cruz said the rescued French tourists were treated at the Central Luzon Doctor’s Hospital in Capas and they were identified as Radjon Araga, Beatrice Le Guvader, Dudier Bazin, Philippe Navarre, Philippe Guinebert, and Marie France Fouchard.

He said the Koreans who were not with the French group went hiking to the volcano’s crater when the lahar swamped the mountain trail.

The Koreans who were identified as Han Chung, Xang Hua and Han Sany were stranded but were later recovered by rescue teams.

Officials said nine French tourists and two Filipino guides boarded two four-wheel drive jeeps last Thursday morning and drove through the mountain trail to the Mt. Pinatubo crater.

Lt. Col. Jose Caparas, who led the Army rescue team, said the victims were swept by strong currents from the nearby O’Donnel River that overflowed due to the lahar that was carried downstream by rainwater at the Crow Valley side of Mt. Pinatubo.

Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991 and deposited lahar and volcanic debris around it’s slopes that border Tarlac, Zambales and Pampanga.

Capas Mayor Rey Catacutan said search and rescue teams found the bodies of the four dead Canadians and three Filipino victims at the O’Donnel River.

Caparas said some of the victims were found half-buried in lahar while their four-wheel drive jeeps were not yet recovered.

Lt. Col. Gerardo Zamudio, Air Force spokesman, said the crew of two military helicopters that were dispatched in the area rescued the six French survivors.

He said the tourists earlier registered at the office of the Pinatubo Development Corp. (PDC) in Barangay Sta. Juliana in Capas for their trip to the crate of Mt. Pinatubo early Thursday morning.

Director Ronnie Tiotuico of the Department of Tourism (DOT) office in Central Luzon said that tourists should have been barred from trekking to Mt. Pinatubo after the announcement of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) that typhoon Kiko would affect Luzon.

He said the Pinatubo trekking project, which was initiated by the DOT was transferred in 2005 to the local government of Capas, headed by Mayor Rey Catacutan, and the Philippine Air Force (PAF) unit based at Clark Freeport in Pampanga.

Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz, who chairman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC), said he would investigate why the tourists were allowed to trek to Mt. Pinatubo despite the incoming typhoon.

“I was earlier told that the mayor (of Capas) insisted that the weather was quite fine when the tourists headed for the mountains,” he said.

Dela Cruz said tourists going to the crater of Mt. Pinatubo are normally allowed if good weather has been experienced in the area for the past two days.

The DOT promoted trekking to Mt. Pinatubo as a tourist attraction several years ago, after tourist guides identified Barangay Sta. Juliana in Capas as the safest route to the crater.

DOT officials developed the barangay as a base camp for tourists and trained local folk, including indigenous Aetas, as tourist guides.

Three brothers in Baguio

Rescuers dug out three brothers buried by mud and debris after their shanty was buried during heavy rains last Thursday night at Camp 8 along Kennon Road in Baguio City.

The bodies of Edu Pisca, 13, his younger brothers Michael, 12, and Kris, 7, were recovered at around 2:30 a.m. yesterday.

Chief Inspector Paul Mencio, Baguio police station 8 chief, said the victims’ father Eduardo and mother Lilia survived.

The landslide destroyed the family’s shanty, which was built on a steep cliff below the Baguio General Hospital compound along Camp 8.

Officials said Mariano Umipig, 80, and his wife Modesta, 74, were brought to the hospital after they were hurt when their house fell off the cliff in the barangay Balsigan in Baguio.

Several other landslides were recorded by the Office of Civil Defense along major routes to Baguio City especially Kennon Road, which was closed to traffic and other locations in Banaue in Ifugao and Benguet province.

Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan suspended classes in all levels in the province while Baguio City Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. only suspended classes in the elementary and secondary levels.

La Trinidad Mayor Artemio Galwan reported floods in in areas near the swollen Balili River, La Trinidad’s major river system.

Zambales towns in state of emergency

Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso placed the northern towns of the province under a state of emergency after the San Juan lahar dike collapsed in Botolan causing floods and isolated six towns.

Aside from Botolan the other towns under the state of emergency include Iba, Palawig, Masinloc, Candelaria and Sta. Cruz.

The collapse of the San Juan lahar dike flooded 10 barangays in Botolan where 1,784 residents were evacuated to safer areas.

The 10 affected barangays were San Juan, Pagudpod, Carael, Bucao, Beneg, Paco, Tampo, Batong Lapoc, Mambog, and San Isidro.

Residents were brought to evacuation centers at the Botolan North Central School, Porac Elementary School, and the Pagudpod Resettlement Center.

Rescuers said after the San Juan dike collapsed rampaging lahar deposits destroyed the approach of the Bucao Bridge in Botolan and cut off the national highway.

Rescue teams reported that 30 houses were also washed away by rampaging floodwaters,.

“As of now, there is no other way to reach the northern part of Zambales, except by going around and passing through Pangasinan province in the north,” Deloso told The STAR.

“This will surely affect the economic life of the province, that’s why we have to declare a state of emergency,” he added.

Rescue teams in Botolan reported that 10 residents were reported missing.

In some areas, the flood has reached five feet deep, rescuers said.

Deloso said two helicopters from the Philippine Red Cross have assisted in airlifting residents stranded by the flood.

The Philippine Navy also sent two rubber boats, while the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) sent rescue teams, he added.

The Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary Group’s 102nd Squadron, which is based at the Subic Bay Freeport, had mobilized its members to help in the evacuation and relief efforts in Botolan.

Meanwhile, thousands of motorists and passengers were stranded since Thursday after landslides closed the national highway linking this Nueva Ecija with Central Luzon, virtually cutting off Cagayan Valley from the rest of Luzon.

Several villages in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya were flooded.

Cagayan Valley police director Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian said that portions of the national highway in Barangay Minuli, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija were temporarily closed to traffic as a result of landslides caused by rains brought by the typhoon.

He said some sections of the Dalton Pass mountain highway, the gateway to Cagayan Valley, were also closed due to landslides.

Reports said that a portion of the national road in Barangay San Juan, Santa Prexedes, Cagayan, is still experiencing heavy traffic due to landslides.

Traffic had also slowed down along the Ilocos side of the Cagayan Valley-Ilocos Highway, especially along Barangays Pasaleng, Panzian, Balaoi and Caunayan, all in coastal Pagudpud town after landslides damaged the road.

In Oriental Mindoro, the Philippine Coast Guard reported that six Chinese tourists and a Filipino boatman were rescued when a motor boat sank near Verde Island last Thursday afternoon.

Lt. Algier Ricafrente, Calapan City Coast Guard commander, said the M/B Renzo with six Chinese passengers and a boat skipper left the Puerto Galera port bound for Batangas City when it was hit by strong waves and capsized near Verde Island and Matuco Point.

Ricafrente said a passing motorboat M/B Fantasy rescued the passengers of the ill-fated boat

All survivors were brought to Puerto Galera to undergo a routine medical check-up. With Cecile Suerte Felipe, Artemio Dumlao, Bebot Sison, Helen Flores, Pia Lee-Brago, Jaime Laude, Ric Sapnu, Sheila Crisostomo, Evelyn Macairan, Charlie Lagasca, Arnell Ozaeta, AP.