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Monday, February 20, 2006
10 missing in Zambo Sur landslide
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- At least 10 people were missing after torrential rains unloosened mud and boulders and buried a row of thatched houses in Zamboanga del Sur province in the southern Philippines, officials said Sunday.
Officials said the mudslide occurred late Saturday in the remote village of Depore in Bayog town. "At least 10 people are missing and believed buried alive after mudslide covered some houses in the area," said Maj. Gamal Hayudini, a spokesman for the Southern Command.
He said troops were sent to the village to help the locals find any survivors.
"Soldiers are in the area and helping the police and civilians search for survivors. We don't have reports about the fate of those who are missing and buried," Hayudini said.
Hayudini said it was not immediately clear what caused the landslide. The sketchy report only said the site was about 500 meters from the office of a mining company, he added.
Southern Command chief Major General Gabriel Habacon ordered more soldiers to the province to help in the search and rescue operation. Heavy rains the past days were also threatening other areas in remote villages in the province.
The latest tragedy coincided with government efforts to rescue an estimated 1,800 people also buried in landslide in the farming village of Guinsaugon in St. Bernard town in southern Leyte in the central Philippines.
Rescuers have been searching in vain for more survivors of the landslide Friday. At least 92 people had been rescued and that more than 100 bodies were recovered as the government rushed to find some 200 others believed trapped in a buried school building there.
Weeks of heavy rains triggered the landslide and almost covered the entire village with mud of up to 30 feet, officials said. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(February 20, 2006 issue)
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