Landslide buries alive 3 miners in South Cotabato

MANILA, Philippines—Officials say a landslide triggered by heavy rains has buried alive three miners who were resting in their bunkhouse in South Cotabato.

Civil defense officer Roy Dorado said Thursday that two other miners were slightly injured at the same site in South Cotabato province’s T’boli township when rushing floodwater eroded a portion of the road they were standing on and swept them away.

He says that heavy rains late Wednesday eroded soil on a slope near the miners’ rest house outside a tunnel. Village leaders have ordered residents to evacuate.

The area is prone to landslides after years of mining.

Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Lyndon Paniza says officials are checking if anyone has been trapped in the mining tunnels.