|
At least 25 people were killed in the southern Philippines on Thursday when a landslide buried gold prospectors who had refused to leave an area declared too dangerous for habitation. Officials said up to 150 people were missing on Mindanao Island after the collapse of a rain-soaked hillside that had been settled by thousands of migrants in search of instant riches. Rescuers using hand-held tools pulled 25 bodies and 15 injured residents from the rubble after the dawn landslide in Napnapan, a hamlet of more than 8,000 people near the town of Pantukan, civil defense chief Benito Ramos said. "A military unit is in the area, but they are basically digging with their hands," he said. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 150 people were missing and that the health department was transporting 150 body bags to the site, even as heavy rain halted rescue efforts for the rest of the day. Local military official Colonel Lyndon Paniza, who is coordinating the rescue from Pantukan, about two hours away via rugged mountain roads, said rescuers fear there could be more fatalities. "We expect many were killed since the worst-hit was the middle, where there are more than 50 shanties," he said. The landslide buried a 7,500-square-meter area as people slept, Paniza added. The provincial government and local mining firms have been asked to bring heavy equipment to the village. | 
