Miner killed in ComVal landslide

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte – A miner was killed and three others were hurt in a landslide at a mining area in Compostela Valley on Thursday, police reported Friday.

Senior Superintendent Camilo Cascolan, Compostela Valley police chief, said the landslide took place in Barangay (village) Ngan in the municipality of Compostela.

He identified the dead miner as Jerry Manzanares, 42, of Poblacion, Compostela.

Cascolan said Manzanares’ body was pulled out of the debris by rescuers. Three other miners, whose identities were not immediately available, were also rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment, he added.

Julius Conejos, an employee of the local government, said days of incessant rains may have caused portion of a hill there to collapse, burying the victims.

Sitio (sub-village) Bango is a known gold-rich community in Compostela Valley where thousands of people have flocked since gold was first discovered there in the 1980s.

In 2011, over 40 people died after a section of a gold-rich mountain in nearby Pantukan town collapsed, burying a community of small-scale miners.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has included Barangay Ngan among areas with “very high susceptibility to landslides.”