The landslide caused last Tuesday by heavy rains in a mining village in the south of the Philippines left at least 68 dead, while rescuers gave up all hope of finding survivors, authorities announced.
More than a dozen bodies were extracted from the mud on Monday and 51 people are still missing, including minors and villagers, according to the latest count published by local authorities.
The previous count was 54 dead and 63 missing.
The landslide in the village of Masara, close to a gold mine, buried the bus station for mine employees, as well as 55 houses in this village on the island of Mindanao, in the south of the Philippines.
Rocks, mud and trees fell more than 700 meters along a mountain near the mine, and buried nearly nine hectares.
“Almost a week has passed since the incident and ... we assume that there is no one alive there anymore
,” said Edward Macapili, spokesperson for the provincial water management office. Davao de Oro disasters.
Frequent landslides
“There is already a foul odor in the area, and we now need to speed up the extraction
,” he added.
An area approximately 50 meters deep remains to be searched, according to Edward Macapili.
The authorities have promised to continue the search until all the missing have been found.
Landslides are common in much of the Philippines due to mountainous terrain, heavy rainfall and deforestation linked to mining, but also slash-and-burn agriculture and illegal logging.
Heavy rains in parts of Mindanao, the Philippines' second largest island, for weeks have caused dozens of landslides and floods that have forced tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in emergency shelters. .