(MANILA) A landslide left one dead and three missing in the southern Philippines, police said on Thursday, raising the countrywide death toll to at least 33 from recent rains.
Authorities are continuing their search for at least 20 people after heavy rainfall over the Christmas weekend caused flooding and landslides in parts of the central and southern Philippines.
Police said four people were fishing on a river in Davao Oriental province on the southern island of Mindanao on Wednesday when a landslide buried them.
The lifeless body of a 62-year-old man was found and a search was underway to locate the other three people, Mati city police chief Ernesto Gregore told AFP.
“There was a heavy downpour in the mountains. They were fishing in a river when a landslide happened,” he said.
Across the country, hundreds of homes have been destroyed and more than 5,000 hectares of crops devastated by the rains, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in evacuation centres, the national disaster management agency reported. disasters.
Most of those who lost their lives were in Misamis West province on the island of Mindanao, where 15 people died of drowning or in rain-triggered landslides.
The Philippines is among the countries most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. The weather is getting more powerful as the planet heats up, researchers have warned.