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Saturday, October 29, 2005
Fumes bar search for trapped miners
DAVAO CITY -- Military and civilian rescuers have yet to commence their search for miners trapped inside a collapsed tunnel at the gold-rush Mt. Diwalwal, Monkayo, Compostela Valley since Wednesday.
Rescuers stopped their retrieval operations for fear that the toxic fumes inside the tunnel would endanger the lives of more people.
Authorities said they would have to wait for two days for the fumes to disappear before they could enter the tunnel. The cave-in, according to them, is about 750 meters away from the tunnel entrance.
Office of Civil Defense (OCD) 11 Director Carmelito Lupo, along with a team of rescuers from the Philippine Air Force 5053rd Wing, arrived in Mt. Diwalwal Friday morning.
Lupo met with Engineer Richard Aquino, operations manager of the JB Management and Mining Corporation (JBMMC), to map out rescue plans but the fumes prevented them from entering the sunshine portal.
Investigation showed the explosion was due to a landslide of sorts that caused an air blast at the surrounding work sites.
Miners refer to the incident as "bar down", pidgin for the mining term barred down, which means a specific tunnel has collapsed causing it to be barred down.
As of 3 p.m. Friday, official report placed the number of fatalities at six while two were injured and 12 still trapped inside the tunnel after an explosion occurred at the Destino 2 Sunshine Portal owned by JB mining on Wednesday night.
Defense officials identified the dead as Julio Galvez, Longkoy Miguel, Genesis Miguel, Joepert Malubay, William Catigbi, and Victor Contesa while the injured are Pelvo Francisco Jr. and Ferdinand Bersamin, both miners of JB.
Among those believed trapped inside the tunnel are Jerry Calamba, Al Placio, Raul Hugo, Rey Hugo, Nemesio delos Santos, Rodolfo Cabrera, Jeory del Ocampo, Roque Aniñon, Mardonio Sistonia Jr., and Marcelino Davis.
Nine miners from the nearby Licayan tunnel have been rescued. They are Dodong Mapara, Felix Tampos, Rudy Plomo, Jun Gallardo, Rex Al Midilla, Julius Urabia, Jun Arco, Tata Arco, and Raul Abiado.
Earlier, Diwalwal barangay captain Franco Tito said that as many as 50 miners were believed still trapped inside the tunnel.
Authorities, however, insist there are just 20 miners affected by the collapse.
"They could all be dead by now," said Tito.
"There was an explosion inside the cave and the tunnel gave in, trapping everybody," added Tito.
Tito said the heavy rains made it difficult for rescuers and volunteers to dig for bodies or find survivors.
JB mining dismissed fears of cyanide fumes, saying it doesn't stock this explosive inside the tunnels.
Cyanide is used to separate the gold ore from surrounding minerals after this is mined.
Atilano Adi of the Office of the Civil Defense said rescuers were having a difficult time locating the bodies of the victims or survivors.
"The stench is terrible, aside from the dangerous holes and shafts inside the tunnel," Adi said.
Adi added that soldiers and policemen were also helping in the rescue operation.
He said they are also monitoring another gold-rush site in the town of Tungawan, where hundreds of villagers have dug tunnels.
In Tungawan town, Adi said, villagers have virtually turned the mountain into a pit -- with tunnels snaking into each other -- searching for gold nuggets.
"They are like rats, literally searching for gold nuggets for food. And we are concerned about the danger these unsafe and illegal tunnels pose to everyone," Adi said.
Mindanao Economic Development Council Chairman Jesus Dureza, who is supervising the rescue operations in Diwalwal, said they would continue to search for survivors until all miners have been accounted for.
"This rescue operation will not stop until everybody have been recovered and accounted for," Dureza said.
JB mining was scheduled to start its own search and retrieval operations Thursday night.
Environment officials said an estimated US$1.8 billion worth of gold reserves remain untapped in the 5,000-hectare Mt. Diwalwal. (BOT/GAA of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(October 29, 2005 issue)
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