4 workers dead in Nueva Vizcaya landslide

by Victor Martin – The Philippine Star, 4 Sep 2021

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines – Four workers were buried alive in a landslide in Barangay Tiblac in Ambaguio town yesterday.

Nueva Vizcaya police director Col. Ranse Evasco identified the fatalities as Rafael Villar, 42; John Retamola, 25, both residents of Barangay Ibung in Villaverde town; Christopher Padua, 38, of Barangay Sta. Rosa, and Carlos Tome of Barangay Bonfal East in this town.

The victims were among more than 20 workers constructing a slope protection wall in the area.

“They were doing some excavation when a landslide buried them,” Evasco said.

Backhoe operator Lyndon Ocoy, 45, said the landslide occurred at around 8:30 a.m.

Ocoy and two other workers managed to run.

Personnel of the Ambaguio police and Bureau of Fire Protection and rescue teams of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office retrieved the bodies of the victims three hours after the incident.

Three of the victims were decapitated after they were accidentally hit by a backhoe during retrieval operations.