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Manila: Rescuers pulled four more bodies from under tonnes of mud on Monday, bringing to 20 the death toll from a weekend landslide in the southern Philippines that
buried a mining village, officials said.
The head of the regional civil defence office said rescuers were scrambling to find 19 people still missing after rain loosened soil which buried 45 houses in Compostela Valley in Mindanao where Apex Mining has a gold project.
"Our rescue teams got four bodies today, including that of the village chief," Liza Mazo told reporters after rescue teams halted search operations on Sunday night due to rain.
On Sunday, nine bodies, including three children, were retrieved from the collapsed houses and sea of mud. Another person died in hospital where two dozen villagers had been taken for injuries, Mazo said.
A third landslide was feared as rain continued to batter the area.
"There could be a lot more people missing," Mazo said, adding that disaster workers were helping feed and provide temporary shelter for more than 1,500 villagers fleeing the
landslide area.
Mayor Voltaire Rimando said on Sunday the local government planned to clear the village of 7,000 people after state mining experts declared it a geological hazard.
"Our security forces are on standby and ready to forcibly evacuate all of them to safer areas," he told reporters after a meeting with disaster officials.
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