Rains hamper recovery of 4 kids in Kabasalan landslide

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  - Hopes dimmed   for the recovery of  four children buried from massive landslide in an uphill village in Kabasalan town, Zamboanga Sibugay as search and retrieval operations were hampered by incessant rains, police said Friday.

Police Inspector Rustom Romina, deputy police chief of Kabasalan Municipality, said combined police and military forces with the local officials halted Thursday the manual retrieval operation at the landslide site due to heavy rains.

The four children -  Fatima Orong Maghanoy, 12, and her brother Eugene, nine; and their cousins Sherlyn Mae Lugatiman Maghanoy,  seven, and her three-year old brother Eziquel Meziah  - have been buried and feared dead since Tuesday afternoon from the massive landslide  that covered an abandoned house  at Purok 4, Barangay Sayao town to which they sought refuge from the rain.

“The parents of the victims said they heard a loud rumbling sound then the massive landslide crashing coconut trees and bamboos and covered the abandoned house where the victims took refuge while waiting for the rain to stop,” Romina said.

Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, Spokesman of Police Regional Police Office 9 (PRO), said the combined police, military and the village officials resumed the search Thursday as the area which was eight kilometers away from the main town was no accessible to heavy mechanical equipment.

He said the search and retrieval yielded Thursday afternoon was halted anew because of the heavy rains.

Romina confirmed that search and recovery operations resumed Friday but the remains of the victims have yet to be recovered.