5 dead, 9 missing as Ulysses triggers landslides in Vizcaya mining village

GRIM TASK. Police and volunteers retrieve five bodies and search for nine others that were buried in layers of mud as landslides hit houses in a mining area of Runruno, a village in the town of Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya on Thursday (Nov. 12). PHOTO FROM PNP

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Five people were dead and nine others were missing in landslides that hit a mining community at the village of Runruno in Quezon town, Nueva Vizcaya and believed triggered by Typhoon Ulysses.

Heavy rain and strong winds brought by Ulysses loosened the soil, causing layers of mud to pour onto houses, trapping people inside.

Authorities said the houses, which had been built inside the mining concession area of FCF Mining Corp., were made of light materials and buried in mud and boulders.

Search and retrieval operations were underway, said Col. Ranser Evasco, Nueva Vizcaya acting provincial director.

TSB