Rescue underway for 80 on disabled boat

GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines—Two military helicopters and a naval boat were sent out Saturday afternoon to rescue at least 80 persons on a motorboat adrift after its propeller broke in the waters off La Libertad town in Negros Oriental.

La Libertad Vice Mayor Emmanuel Iway said the boat was on its way from Ronda town in Cebu to La Libertad carrying passengers and relief goods for victims of last Monday’s earthquake and landslide in his town.

“We received reports that the boat is being carried by strong currents going northward to Guihulngan City,” Iway told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

Guihulngan officials have been alerted and have also sent out boats and rescue teams, the vice mayor said.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the 6.9-magnitude earthquake and landslides rose to 40 Saturday morning after retrieval teams recovered the body of Estelita Pocong, 69,  in Barangay Solonggon in La Libertad.

Second Lieutenant Jan Batay-an of the Army’s 32nd Division Reconnaissance Company said the body was dug up  around 10:20 a.m. at the upper portion of the 70-foot–high landslide area.

Recovery operations were suspended in the afternoon after two aftershocks occurred, Batay-an said in a telephone interview.