22 people still missing in landslide that buried DPWH office in Mt. province

 

Site of the landslide in Natonin town in Mountain Province where the Department of Public Works and Highways DPWH second district engineering office building was buried under mud and rocks after typhoon Rosita’s onslaught on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. (Photos courtesy DPWH Secretary Mark Villar)

(Eagle News) – Twenty-two people are still believed to be missing in the landslide that buried the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) second engineering district office in Mountain Province as full search and rescue operations entered its second day.

Four bodies have been recovered in the rubble, according to the Philippine Information Agency – Cordillera Administrative Region, different from its earlier statement that five bodies had been recovered.

“PIA MOUNTAIN PROVINCE: As of this morning, CRDRRMC chair Dir Ruben Carangdang shared the latest data on casualties on Natonin’s Ground Zero based on report by PDRRM Officer Atty. Edward Chumawar that there are four (4) dead, 4 injured and 22 individuals still missing,” PIA-CAR said in a tweet.

Four people are listed as injured.

As of yesterday, DPWH La Union 1st District Engineering Office Rescue Team has already sent its people to Natonin, Mountain Province to assist in the search, rescue and retrieval operations.

Initially, officials said that only nine were missing in the tragic landslide that occurred between 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 30 as typhoon Rosia (Yutu) was leaving the country.

Some 30 people have been in the DPWH office in Natonin town when the mud, rainwater and rocks started tumbling down the mountain slopes covering the four-storey DPWH building.  The building is said to be still under construction.

Among those inside the DPWH office building were contracted laborer, security guards and evacuees who sought shelter from Rosita’s wrath.