Manila: Four people reported missing in the landslide that struck a gold rush site in Compostella Valley on Thursday were found alive as the number of confirmed deaths from the tragedy reached 30 people.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the four, whose names the NDRRMC did not mention in its report, were found out to have survived from the tragedy.
Authorities said they are hoping that more victims buried underneath the rubble will be recovered alive.
The discovery brings the casualties in the early morning landslide in mining site Diat 1 and Diat 2, in Sitio Palo Uno, Napnapan village in Southern Philippines' Pantukan mining town, to 30 confirmed deaths, 38 missing and 16 injured.
Officials overseeing the retrieval operations said they are in the process of firming up the number of people to be traced as there was no official list of people occupying the area when the tragedy struck.
The NDRRMC had said that a landslide had occurred in a hilly portion in a gold panning area in Napnapan around 3 am Thursday following heavy rains.
"Dozens were buried alive while shanties located towards Diat 2 were wiped out," it said.
The shanties were put up in the area by illegal miners despite warnings from authorities that the site is prone to landslides.
Earlier, the presidential palace said local officials found to have allowed illegal miners to set camp and proliferate in known landslide prone areas in Pantukan town, will be punished for causing the tragedy.
"This move (punishment) is necessary to that such incidents will not happen again," Presidential palace deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said.
The tragedy occurred despite a similar landslide at an illegal mining site in the area that killed five people in April last year.
Meanwhile, a report published by the daily Sun.Star Davao, said an independent panel will be formed to look into the liability of Pantukan Mayor Celso Sarenas with regards to the incident.
Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy was quoted as saying that the panel will be made up of representatives from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Office of Civil Defence, the chairman of the Committee on Environment of the Provincial Board and a non-government organisation.
"We have received information from the miners that the reason why Sarenas had been unable to rid the area of the shanties in the area is because he operates an illegal mining tunnel," Uy said.
Illegal gold mining had been taking place in the Compostella Vally area since the 1980s. One of the reasons why the government had been unable to eliminate the problem is because local politicians provide protection to illegal miners.
