Retrieval operations ongoing for victims buried under garbage in Baguio village—mayor

Students, employees and traders climb a mound of 38-year-old garbage, estimated to be 18,000 cubic meters that now occupies Kilometer 5 of Asin Road in Baguio City. The trash slid off the city's decommissioned dump which was toppled by rains unleashed by Typhoon “Mina”. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Retrieval operations continued Thursday in Barangay (village) Irisan in Baguio City after heavy rains spawned by Typhoon “Mina” sent mounds of garbage from a dumpsite crashing into homes and burying residents on August 27, Gauio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan told 990AM.

Although chances of finding survivors beneath the garbage were slim, a search for the bodies of those reported missing is ongoing, said Domogan whose city and the rest of Benguet province have been placed under a state of calamity.

Domogan said that placing Baguio and Benguet under a state of calamity would allow the government to help those affected by “Mina”. Karen Boncocan, INQUIRER.net