3 evacuees from Batangas towns die after being displaced by Taal eruption

LIPA CITY—At least three people had died amid the rush in Batangas province to move them out of harm’s way following Taal Volcano’s eruption.

The latest casualty was Danilo Toledo, a resident of Taal town. He died on Jan. 14, according to a report by Brig. Gen. Kit Teofilo, head of Task Force Taal.

The task force is composed of police and soldiers.

In a phone interview on Wednesday (Jan. 15) evening, Teofilo said Toledo died of cardiac arrest.

On Jan. 13, Anatalia Perez, a resident of Talisay town, died also of cardiac arrest during evacuation, he said.

In Bauan, Batangas, Antonio Baleros, 51, died around 9:40 p.m. on Jan. 14 , hours after he was rushed from the evacuation center at the Bauan Tech High School to a hospital, said Lt. Col. Joemar Labiano in a separate phone interview.

Laniano quoted a medical report saying Baleros died also of a heart attack.

Baleros and his family were staying at the evacuation center with 13,000 other families from the towns of Taal and Lemery hit by thick ash fall from Taal Volcano.

Quoting the victim’s relatives, Labiano said Baleros went to sleep around noon but didn’t wake up anymore.

Teofilo said the cause of their deaths, however, were not directly related to the ash fall.

As of Wednesday, 18,646 families (or 82,068 persons) from Batangas were seeking shelter in 204 evacuation centers in Batangas and Cavite, the task force said.

Edited by TSB