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Sunday, December 18, 2005
Mine search resumes
Efforts to retrieve six miners buried in a coal mine tunnel in Barangay Dumalan, Dalaguete, Cebu resumed yesterday morning, this time with a rescue team from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
The team from the Philippine National Oil Corp. (PNOC) in Zamboanga Sibugay and Leyte Provinces quit last Friday, after one of the miners’ relatives threatened them with a long bolo.
The townsfolk and the miners’ families have been waiting for progress in the recovery operations after a methane gas explosion in the tunnel last Dec. 10.
A week ago, the bodies of two miners who were near the entrance of the tunnel were removed. But since then, the recovery operations have been stalled by a lack of equipment, high levels of methane gas and tons of coal and earth inside the tunnel.
With the PNOC team out, Ibalong Resources and Development Corp., which operates the coalmines after it acquired the mining rights from the Manguerra family, will lead the retrieval operations.
Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Allan Cesante requested for police assistance after last Friday’s incident, involving a cousin of one of the miners and the PNOC team.
Eleven members of the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) from the southern town of Sibonga were sent yesterday afternoon to the Ibalong Resources mine in Dumalan, about 20 kilometers from the Dalaguete town proper.
Cesante wants to prevent any violence after he noted that the residents and relatives were getting restless and impatient with the slow pace of the operations.
This is the second fatal accident for the Taiwanese-owned Ibalong Resources since last July, when a miner died and two of his co-workers were injured when a mine site they were repairing collapsed.
The BFP rescue team that went to the southern town, about 85 kilometers from Cebu City, cannot say how long the retrieval operations will take, but Supt. Aderson Comar assures that they will do their best.
The BFP was tapped to take over the retrieval operations after the PNOC rescue team pulled out of the area after a man threatened them with a bolo, apparently fed with the slow pace of the work.
BFP offered
Last Monday, Capitol consultant on information, organization and management Pablo John Garcia met with DOE 7 Director Antonio Labios and Comar. In that meeting, BFP offered to assist in the rescue since they have the trained men and equipment.
But last Friday, when Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia was on her way to Dalaguete, she was informed that since that meeting, there had been no contact made to BFP by Labios.
“Now that the PNOC has pulled out, BFP will be going up there now. I thank Director Labios for finally taking action and considering the offer of people who were right here from the very start and had been very eager to help,” Governor Garcia said.
DOE Secretary Raphael Lotilla also informed Garcia that they were sending another team from a mining firm but it would take two days.
Comar, meanwhile, said he could not blame the PNOC rescue team from stopping every time the level of methane gas in the tunnel went above the tolerable limit.
We are up against gas that could cause poisoning, or even death. They made the right move, Comar said in a telephone interview.
Explosion
He explained that it was like inhaling air inside a barrel filled with excrement.
Aside from being poisonous, methane is also flammable and the slightest movement that produces sparks could result in an explosion.
This is what they believe happened last Dec. 10 when eight miners entered the tunnel.
After the explosion, coal and soil covered the way to the southern part of the tunnel, where the six miners are believed to be located.
Comar, BFP deputy regional director for operations, said he understands the sentiments of the relatives, but they did not grasp the risks.
He said the first thing he will do when he arrives at the mine is to let them understand the situation.
The relatives, Comar said, should not have threatened the rescue team, pointing out that they were there on a voluntary basis and brought their own equipment to help retrieve the six miners.
Comar also said that all he requires for support are food for the days that he and his men will be there, and headlamps. (MEA/MBG)
(December 18, 2005 issue)
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