Three miners die of suffocation inside Philippine tunnel

Benguet: Three miners, who apparently ran short of oxygen while inside an underground mining tunnel, were brought out dead on Sunday by their colleagues in the village of Loacan, in Itogon, Benguet.

Itogon councilor Alexander Fianza named the fatalities as brothers Virgilio Singwa, 30; Roel Singwa, 34 and Roger Rillera; all natives of Mankayan town, in Northern Benguet.

The remains of the three individuals were retrieved by their fellow miners at around 9am.

The latest accident in Itogon came just two months after a similar tragedy occurred during the last week of September, when six miners died and ten others were rescued from an abandoned mine that was formerly owned by the Benguet Mining Corporation.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Cordillera chief engineer Neoman dela Cruz said his office will immediately conduct a probe.

"We have to ascertain if the victims and their colleagues entered the tunnel also illegally," said George Baywong, an engineer at the Bureau.

Hundreds of miners break into these abandoned tunnels to look for gold. "It is a major source of livelihood," said the government mining engineer, "so people seize even little opportunities".

Baywong called on authorities, especially the legislature, to start reviewing the 1995 Mining Law to suit the challenges of medium scale mining.