TAGUM CITY, Philippines–Two small-scale miners were killed after a gold mining tunnel collapsed in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur on Saturday, police on Monday said.
The bodies of Ronnie Lawangon, 36, of Purok 2, Barangay Alegria, and Mark Glenn Casher, 27, of Bayugan 3, in nearby Rosario town, were found and retrieved by rescuers inside the shaft in Sitio Sumugbong, Alegria around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, more than a day after the disaster, according to Senior Superintendent Glenn de la Torre, Agusan del Sur police chief.
Dela Torre told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by text message the victims were working inside the mine owned by a certain Minak Tagleong when it gave way around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, trapping them.
The shaft is situated near the Magdiwata range, where the local government of San Francisco has imposed a ban on small-scale mining several years back due to environmental concerns, officials said. –Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao
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