Manila Bulletin
By Aaron B. Recuenco
February 14, 2013, 8:42pm
MANILA, Philippines --- The death toll in the landslide that struck at a coal mining site in Semirara, Caluya town in Antique reached five on Thursday afternoon, police based in Western Visayas reported.
Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz, Jr., Police Regional Office 6 (PRO6) director, confirmed that five miners of Semirara Coal and Mining Corporation were found dead in the rubble and that five others were still missing since the incident happened around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.
However, a statement issued by the Semirara firm only confirmed four deaths among its workers.
“It’s an open pit mining. We received initial reports of downpour in the area so we suspect that it caused the landslide,” said Cruz in a phone interview.
He said the landslide occurred while a small group of miners were digging in the mining site, burying at least 13 workers.
Cruz said three workers were immediately rescued – Marjun Catoto, Adrian Celmar, and Lenardo Sojor, who airlifted to Manila to seek expert medicalcare for serious injuries.
Rosario Cabrera, director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Western Visayas, identified the fatalities as Abner Lim, Joven Hocate, George Bragat, Efren Equiza, and Anthony Siblet.
The five more missing were also identified by Cabrera as Leovigildo Porras, Jan Riel Planca, Randy Tamparong, Richard Padernilla and Junjie Gomez.
“The Management is in the process of determining the cause of the accident in coordination with relevant government authorities,” the statement signed by George San Pedro, resident manager read.
He said they have already stopped operations to ensure the safety of all their mining personnel, adding that the incident occurred when the west wall of Panian pit caved in.
“The Company is extending full support to the families of the affected personnel,” the statement added.
Cruz said search and rescue operation is still on going against the six other miners who are still missing.
“We are still hoping that all of the remaining missing will be rescued alive,” said Cruz. source
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