5 dead, 2 missing in landslide

Rescuers pulled five bodies from under tons of mud yesterday after days of rains loosened soil and buried several houses in a village near the gold-rush site on Mt. Diwalwal in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, authorities said.

Superintendent Ronaldo de la Rosa, Compostela Valley police director, said residents of Barangay Upper Ulip and volunteers continued to dig under the debris of destroyed homes and mud to search for more bodies.

“We’re looking for two more bodies but there could be more,” De la Rosa told reporters, adding that six makeshift houses were destroyed by the landslide that hit Purok 17 in Tinago district on Thursday night.

“We’re still trying to account for all the residents in the area to determine how many people could have been buried under the mud. Some of the residents have gone to temporary shelters,” he said.

Antonio Cloma of the Office of Civil Defense said there were two landslides on Mt. Diwalwal on Thursday, one in the morning that injured seven people and another in the evening that killed five people, including three children.

Two months ago, about 20 people were killed in landslides in another mining town in Compostela Valley, forcing authorities to evacuate two villages due to fears of more landslides.

“We’ve been asking the people there to move to safer areas during the rainy season because of the dangers of landslides,” Cloma said. “But they don’t listen even if they know they’re in a high-risk area.”   –, Edith Regalado