Except for a recovered human body part, there were no signs of the five workers who were among 10 people buried by tons of soil when a portion of a wall of the Semirara Mining Corp. (SMC) open mine pit collapsed here five days ago.
Lalaine Planca is grappling with her grief. “I have lost two already and that’s too much,” she said.
“Every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing my friends and fellow workers who died,” recounted Rodrigo (not his real name), who said that he had not slept for the past two days.
It is the second mining disaster to occur in the country in seven months, putting the local mining industry under siege, but investors do not expect a prolonged suspension of operations of Semirara Mining Corp.’s Panian open-pit coal mine in Antique, given that the disaster was “not environmental” in nature.
The miners were having coffee near the end of their break around midnight on Wednesday when they noticed that earth was coming loose on the western wall of the coal mine pit.
