Four more bodies pulled from flooded mine shaft

Itogon: Rescuers retrieved four bodies of miners from a mine shaft in northern Luzon on Thursday, leaving one more missing - following the retrieval of nine miners from a two-metre deep tunnel that was flooded at the height of Typhoon Hagupit in the north on September 21, sources said.

"It's a sad day for all of us," said a miner who volunteered as part of several rescue teams that started looking on September 21 for 16 trapped miners from the tunnel of Baguio Mines in Itogon, Benguet Province. Tired and sleepless, dozens of relatives wailed when rescuers brought up Marvin Himmayod's dead body which was seen inside the tunnel at 2.45am yesterday.

Cries grew louder as Joel Bulga's dead body was found at 3:07am also on Thursday.

Relatives' vigil

Dozens of relatives held a vigil on Wednesday night as rescue teams refused to stop doing their work in the dark.

The retrieval of dead bodies was expected on Wednesday when the corpses of Juan and Rudy Himmayod, 35 and 37 years old respectively, were found at 6.22pm.

Earlier, two dead bodies were found on September 25, raising to six the number of fatalities at the tunnel which was flooded by the storm.

A total of nine miners were found alive from September 29. They are still recuperating at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Centre.

Accused man missing

Joseph Anayasan, 29, the last of 16 miners trapped in the mine tunnel, might have dreamt of disappearing after all, sources told Gulf News.

He has two arrest warrants for robbery in the Cordillera region, confirmed Cordillera police director Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin.

Deadline set

"We will wrap up rescue operations at five in the afternoon, with or without Anayasan," said Paeng Valencia, chief of a private rescue group called 911 Rescue.

Several miners work for private firms that have forged contracts with Benguet Mines.

They use abandoned tunnels to retrieve ore, at a place which several illegal miners allegedly use.