3 treasure hunters trapped in tunnel

CEBU, Philippines — Retrieval operations are going on for three treasure hunters trapped inside a tunnel they made about 50 feet under in search for gold or diamond in Purok 4, Barangay Boloc-boloc, Sibulan, Negros Oriental.

They were identified through their next of kin as Feliciano Encilay Sr., 62, an employee of the Provincial Veterinary Office and a resident of Dumaguete City; Algie Javier, 29, a former overseas worker who owns the gold detector and a resident of Isugan, Bacong; and a certain Bobby Baldado of Palinpinon, Valencia.

The survivor is identified as Mauro Alforque, 44, a resident of Aldea Homes, who narrated to the police that he was designated as a "lights man."

He witnessed his three of his companions, situated eight feet apart, being buried when clay and sand above them collapsed.

According to Alforque, his body was half buried and fortunately, he was able to free himself leaving the three behind.

Rescue operations were called off midnight last night because the situation in the area is too risky for rescuers.

Retrieval operation resumed early this morning using heavy equipment sent by Dumaguete Mayor Ipe Remollo.

Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) rescuers headed by Supt. Mary Joy Candelario were able to penetrate the site but could not reach the collapsed area because the hole is very small and there is water inside.

Mayor Jose Pepe Abierra of Sibulan personally supervised the retrieval operation early this morning with his city disaster risk reduction officer Josephine Barraquias as incident command center head and Councilor Bong Abada as the designated information officer.

Mayor Remollo immediately mobilized the city disaster risk reduction office and sent three heavy equipment while the provincial disaster risk management center headed by Adrian Sedillo also helped in planning their next move.

Initial investigations showed that the lot where the excavation originated was bought by a certain Christine Singh from Ramon Iso in May last year.

For more than six months, the victims have been digging until they reached the water bed.

They brought their own submersible pump and proceeded up to 13.4 meters where the sandy and clay soil collapse.

The regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources sent two personnel from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) who confirmed the conduct of an illegal treasure hunting in the area.

Engr. Edward Malahay said the  four were not only digging a vertical deep well as claimed by the workers but they are digging forward horizontally endangering the lives of motorists because it went as far as the other side of the barangay road.

He said that mining and treasure hunting are two different things.

Mining is processing minerals that can be recovered from the soil while treasure hunting is in search for treasures being hidden thousands and years back.

Malahay said during the war, when the Japanese soldiers were withdrawing to the hinterlands of Negros Oriental, they had no more time to dig to hide their treasures.

The possibility is that the treasures are buried in shallow holes.

Malahay and Engr. Ramsey Brillante, also of MGB, have joined the rescuers during a briefing this morning at the site upon instructions of their regional director Efren Carido of MGB-7. (FREEMAN)