(Manila) At least seven people were killed and 31 injured after a landslide near a mining village, linked to heavy rains, buried three buses with their passengers as well as several homes in a mountainous region in the south of the Philippines, authorities reported Wednesday.
Forty-eight people are also missing after this landslide, which occurred Tuesday evening, including at least 20 people trapped on board buses, authorities said.
The landslide occurred in Masara, Davao de Oro province on the island of Mindanao, Edward Macapili, provincial disaster management official, told AFP.
It destroyed houses and took away three buses as well as a jeepney – a popular public transport vehicle in the Philippines, originally made from abandoned American jeeps after World War II.
PHOTO RENANTE NAPARAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Masara, Mindanao Island, February 7, 2024
At least 28 people were in the vehicles, according to authorities. Eight of them managed to escape unscathed through the windows, but were swallowed up by mud, according to Mr. Macapili.
Gold mine
The buses were at the entrance to a gold mine operated by Philippine company Apex Mining in Masara, where they drop off and pick up workers.
Initial reports said two buses were trapped in the landslide, but Apex Mining said in a statement that three buses with 60 seats each and a jeepney capable of carrying 36 passengers had been hit.
A fourth bus had just left the area before the landslide, the company added, specifying that 62 employees were safe and 45 missing.
Seven bodies were found in the mud, a local official said, without specifying whether they were inside the bus.
Thirty-one villagers were also injured, including two seriously who were airlifted to a hospital in Davao, Macapili said.
Rescue teams from across the region are searching the area covered in mud, according to Macapili.
“We work mainly by hand, because it is dangerous to dig with excavators, since we do not know if there are people trapped under the debris,” he explained.
Deep cut
Aerial video shows a deep gash in the side of a forested mountain reaching into the village below, where several homes are destroyed.
The land above the landslide appears to have been deforested.
The landslide clearly took residents by surprise.
“There were no signs of landslides because the rains stopped on Thursday and by Friday it was already sunny and warm,” Mr Macapili said.
According to this official, an earthquake shook the village shortly after the landslide. The search was called off at midnight due to the danger and resumed at daybreak.
In a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Apex said it has scaled back operations to help relief efforts by providing equipment, personnel and food.
In Masara and four neighboring villages, 285 families were forced to evacuate their homes, according to Mr. Macapili.
Several thousand people had already had to seek refuge in emergency shelters due to the rains which had lasted for several weeks.
Last week, at least 18 people died following landslides and flooding in the region, the national disaster agency said in its latest update.
Landslides are common in this mountainous archipelago, due to heavy rainfall and widespread deforestation.
The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms which are becoming more and more powerful as the climate changes, according to scientists.