ILOILO CITY—A part of the Panian mining pit on Semirara Island in Antique collapsed early Friday, leaving at least three workers dead and six other missing.
The Semirara Mining Corp. in a statement said that at 3:45 a.m., “a portion of the northern edge of the Panian mine gave way.”
The company is still investigating the cause of the incident and coordinating with authorities, the statement added.
Isidro Consunji, President of DMCI Holdings which operates the Semirara Mining Corporation, said that nonstop rain over the last few days may have caused the landslide in the open-pit coal mine.
Part of the mining pit also collapsed in 2013, leaving five dead and five still missing. With a report from Erwin Aguilon, Radyo Inquirer 990 AM
READ: 5 buried, 5 missing in coal mine collapse
Editor’s note: INQUIRER.net is correcting an earlier report which placed the death toll at nine workers.