Manila: Ten miners were killed, and five missing, in a collapsed coal mine in central Philippines, disaster officials said.
“Five bodies of miners were found on Thursday after a coal mining tunnel of the Semirara Coal and Mining Corp. in Semirara village, Caluya town, Antique province collapsed due to a landslide at 11 Wednesday evening,” said Undersecretary Eduardo del Rosario of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Four of the five victims were identified as Efren Equiza, Joven Hocate, Abner Lim, and Leovigildo Porras, said del Rosario.
“Retrieval mission is ongoing for the five more missing miners whose bodies might have reached 30 metres deep,” said del Rosario, adding their names were already identified by their respective grieving relatives.
Meanwhile, three more miners were also found alive during Thursday’s rescue operation. They were brought to several nearby hospitals, Police Superintendent Marloe Marfil, provincial director-officer-in-charge in Antique, said in a radio interview.
Semirara is extending full support to the families of the affected personnel, George San Pedro, Semirara’s resident manager, said in a statement.
“Semirara has also stopped operations due to the unsafe condition of its mining tunnel, “ San Pedro added.
