Police: Daughter of woman who died in landslide yet to be found

LUCENA CITY—The Quezon police on Saturday clarified that the young daughter of a woman who died along with her two other children in a landslide in the village of Tanauan, Real, Quezon, was yet to be found.

Senior Insp. Henry Luna, Real police chief, said rescuers were still trying to find Normita Lastimosa’s daughter Josha, 5, believed still buried in a landslide that hit their house at around 1 p.m. today.

Josha, who was earlier reported to have been rescued, remained trapped inside the house covered in piles of mud and debris, Luna said.

READ: Mother, 2 daughters killed in Quezon landslide

Normita, 34, and daughters, Joan, 10 and Joylyn, one year old, were killed in the landslide that buried their house and three other houses in the area.

Their bodies were recovered by rescuers sometime around 3 p.m., said Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Quezon police chief.

Three others survived the landslide—Virginia Pia, 36; John Mark Lastimosa, 15; and Jerine Lastimosa, 13.

“They were quickly recovered from the piles of mud,” Luna said.

Ylagan said the landslide was triggered by days of heavy rains spawned by Typhoon “Nona” that loosened the soil in the area.

Luna said two other separate landslides also happened in the boundary of Tanauan and the village of Tignoan.

No casualty was reported in these two landslides that occurred just more than an hour after the deadly landslide in Tanauan.

Luna said additional equipment for search and rescue like a tractor or a bulldozer could not get through to Real because the road between Infanta and Real was still not passable to all types of vehicles due to the thick mud blocking the road.

Last Wednesday, another landslide in the neighboring Infanta town claimed the life of a young female Army officer, Lt. Michelle Mae Delariarte, 24.

Delariarte was on board a vehicle with three other soldiers when it was hit by landslide as they were passing through the highway in Barangay (village) Magsaysay, Infanta.

She died of severe head injuries after the Isuzu Crosswind rolled over twice due to the impact.

Her colleagues—Corporal Renato Villanueva, who drove the vehicle, Lt.  Sarah Jane Bagasol, and Private First Class Cheryl Ramirez—sustained minor injuries. They were brought to Claro M. Recto Hospital for medical treatment.

Still in Infanta, the municipal government mobilized this afternoon a search and rescue operation and evacuated several residents along the swelling Agos river.

The Agos River that traverses Infanta and General Nakar towns has had history of deadly flooding.

In 2004, the two towns were inundated with mud and water, and brought along its deadly path huge logs and other forest debris cascading from the Sierra Madre where the river originates.

More than 900 people died in the flash flood in Infanta. The number of fatalities in General Nakar reached several hundreds, including more than 100 Agta tribal members.