COTABATO CITY — Rescuers are scrambling to account for passengers of three buses that got covered with mud and rocks that fell from a hill in Barangay Masara, Maco town in Davao de Oro on Tuesday night.
The two buses are full of workers of the Apex Mining Incorporated, according to radio reports here and in nearby cities in Region 12.
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The buses were supposed to depart from the mining site to transport workers to their houses when both were hit and got covered with tons of mud and other debris.
The Maco Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and the provincial government of Davao de Oro stated in separate initial statements that Tuesday night’s landslide in Baranga Masara was preceded by torrential rains in the surroundings earlier that day.
More than 10 workers of the mining firm had been rescued after midnight Tuesday by combined responders from the Maco mayor’s office, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Davao de Oro provincial government and personnel of units under the Police Regional Office-11, according to radio reports here.
Local officials have ordered the temporary relocation to safe areas of villagers in hillside farming enclaves in Maco’s adjoining barangays Masara, Mainit, Tagbaros, Elizalde and Panibasan in the meantime to ensure their safety from landslides.