1 dead, 40 missing, 11 rescued in Pantukan landslide

Carolyn O. Arguillas

April 22, 2011
2:43 pm

PANTUKAN, Compostela Valley (MindaNews/22 April) – A 15-year old boy was killed, 40 others are still missing while 11 have been rescued in a landslide that struck a small-scale mining area in Barangay Kingking at around 2:30 Friday morning.

Data from the Incident Command Post fronting the town hall here showed that initial reports on the landslide reached the Municipal Disaster Risk Reducation and Management Council (MDRRMC) at around 8 a.m.

The report said the landslide, triggered partly by continuous downpour Thursday, struck Side B of the small-scale mining area of Sitio Panganason, Barangay Kingking and that 20 persons were missing while four were rescued.

At 9 a.m., a bulldozer of the Russell Mines, located two kilometers away, proceeded to the area while a helicopter from the Philippine Air Force’s 505^th Search and Rescue squadron in Davao City flew to the landslide site to monitor the extent of the slide and to look for a landing zone, 2Lt. Ari Ben Hernaez, acting CMO (Civilian Military Operations) officer of the 71^st IB, said.

Hernaez said the landslide site, estimated to a have affected about a hectare, is located some 13 aerial kilometers away from the town hall here and is accessible on a three-hour ride using habal-habal (motorcycle).[]

The affected sitio has a population of 60 households or about 330 persons. Mayor Celso Sarenas had warned residents there last year to vacate the area but they refused, saying they would rather die working in the minesite than die of hunger.[]

(Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

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