5 bodies recovered from Zambo landslide

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Local rescue teams have recovered the bodies of five victims, including that of a three-year-old girl, buried in a landslide in a mining site in Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur, police said yesterday.

The police-led rescue mission also rescued one of the 10 people earlier reported as missing after a mudslide in Sitio Matin-aw in Barangay Balabag last Saturday, a day after a similar tragedy hit a farming village in Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte.

Superintendent Ramon Ochotorena, Zamboanga del Sur police chief, credited the quick response of the rescue teams for saving Merlyn Hasulen, who suffered broken limbs.

Ochotorena identified the five fatalities as Richard Sumondong, 31, owner and operator of the mining ball mill; Marilyn Bation, 33, and her three-year-old daughter July May; Telito Ramones, 23; and Melicio Calino, 70.

Officials of TVI Mining Inc., a Canadian mining firm, clarified reports that they were operating near the area where the landslide occurred.

Rocky Dimaculangan, TVI director for public affairs, said in their initial exploration and social evaluation of the area, they discovered that the affected site was being operated by about 3,000 small-scale miners.

"The small-scale miners were even using banned chemicals such as mercury in the operation which is hazardous to the environment," he said.

Dimaculangan also pointed out members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit or militiamen who were providing security to their company led the search and recovery mission and recovered four of the bodies of the victims.

He said the team was still searching for a remaining victim who was buried in the mudslide.

According to Ochotorena, the mudslide occurred in a gold mining area where various mining groups are engaged in small-scale mining for gold and silver.

"Continuous heavy rain triggered the mudflow, impounding a big volume of soil in the top portion of the mining site (which) collapsed," he said. — Roel Pareño