Searchers switch to body retrieval as hopes fade in landfill avalanche

Hopes faded in the search for four landfill workers in Rodriguez, Rizal province, as authorities on Sunday said they were now focusing on the retrieval of the victims’ bodies from under the mountain of trash that collapsed two days earlier.

“It’s already a search and retrieval operation because it has been 48 hours (since the trash avalanche). That’s the protocol,” said Rodriguez police chief Supt. Arthur Masungsong.

Backhoe operator Gary Balahibo and maintenance crewmen Pablito Esto, Rovidico Olod and Eddie Malano were believed to have been buried under tons of garbage following a trash slide Friday afternoon at Rizal Provincial Sanitary Landfill in Barangay (village) San Isidro.

The victims, who were employees of the landfill owner and operator International Swims Corp., were clearing a canal when a wide portion of the landfill broke loose.

Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Director Vicente Tomazar earlier said

the heavy downpour on Friday may have triggered the avalanche.

Tomazar said the search operations had to be done carefully so as not to trigger another trash slide that may endanger the search team.

Masungsong could not say how long the search would go on as “we are now

focusing on finding their bodies.”

“The avalanche is so thick that we can’t simply dig our way down.  We’re not like digging a water well down here,” he said.

The Rizal provincial government is conducting an investigation into the incident, though Masungsong said the victims’ families have not filed any complaint so far against the landfill operator.

“So far, it looks like it was just an accident,” added the officer, who earlier said that the provincial police were willing to assist the families should they decide to press charges.

Opened by the provincial government in 2007, the landfill receives an average of 3,500 tons of garbage daily from Metro Manila.