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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
6 trapped miners rescued after 1 week
MANILA -- (Updated 1:51 p.m.) Six gold miners have been rescued after being trapped for a week in a flooded underground tunnel in the mountainous northern Philippines, officials said Tuesday.
Divers were trying to reach two other men seen inside the shaft, but it was not clear if they were still alive, said Mines and Geosciences Bureau officer George Baywong, who is supervising rescue efforts.
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"We don't know if they are survivors," Baywong said. "We are hoping against hope that they are still alive."
Six other miners were still missing in gold mine tunnels in the mountain township of Itogon. The bodies of two miners were retrieved Thursday.
Rescuers and relatives applauded as three survivors were brought out Monday and three others Tuesday on stretchers. They were extremely hungry but in apparent good health, Baywong said.
"This is some sort of a miracle," Neoman de la Cruz, another Mines and Geosciences Bureau officer, told The Associated Press by telephone. "Our hardships have been compensated and we won't give up our search for more survivors."
The first two miners rescued Monday managed to survive by standing on a ledge in a tunnel about 400-700 feet below ground where there was enough oxygen to keep them alive.
They drank the water that flooded the tunnel but had nothing else, Baywong said.
The four others rescued late Monday and Tuesday morning were found in separate elevated portions of the shaft. Baywong said the men, who also survived only on water, had been taken to a hospital.
Nearly 100 rescuers have been battling heavy rains and rising water to look for the miners, who went into the shafts on Sept. 22 during a typhoon that rapidly flooded the tunnels, de la Cruz said.
He said rescuers heard what appeared to be faint human voices in some of the tunnels and the search would focus in that area.
The tunnels, dug decades ago in mountainous Benguet province, were abandoned in the 1990s by a gold mining company, which posted guards at two entrances to prevent accidents.
The trapped miners - who were working on their own with no permit - dug a narrow passageway to gain access to the tunnels, Baywong said. (AP)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (October 1, 2008 issue)
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