5 miners rescued, one still missing as landslide hits Compostela

DAVAO City, Philippines (Xinhua) – Five miners buried by a landslide in a mining village in the south Philippines yesterday have been rescued, but one is still missing, police and officials said today.

The victims were resting inside a hut at the foot of a hill in Kingking village, Pantukan town, in Mindanao’s gold-rich Compostela province when boulders and mud started cascading down on Friday afternoon, according to Senior Superintendent Aaron Aquino, the provincial police chief.

The avalanche of earth buried the house with the victims still inside. Fellow miners and neighbors only recovered five miners with age ranging from 24 to 46 after hours of digging, Aquino said.

The rescued miners were rushed to various government hospitals in the province for treatment of their injuries as search for the sixth victim continues.

Days of continuous rains in the area have triggered the disaster and other miners digging for gold in the village were advised to temporarily evacuate, according to Governor Arturo Uy. –(philstar.com)