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Landslide slams village, 1,500 missing
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-17 15:56
A rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of mud, swallowing
hundreds of houses and an elementary school in the eastern Philippines on
Friday. At least 23 people were confirmed dead, and 1,500 were missing.
A small child is carried from a landslide on
Leyte island in the eastern Philippines Friday, Feb. 17, 2006. A
rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of mud on Friday,
burying hundreds of houses and an elementary school in the eastern
Philippines. Ten people were confirmed dead, and at least 1,500 were
missing. [AP] |
"It sounded like the
mountain exploded, and the whole thing crumbled," survivor Dario Libatan told
Manila radio DZMM. "I could not see any house standing anymore."
The farming village of Guinsaugon on Leyte island, 420 miles southeast of
Manila, was virtually wiped out, with only a few jumbles of corrugated steel
sheeting left to show that the community of some 2,500 people ever existed.
Two other villages also were affected, and about 3,000 evacuees were at a
municipal hall.
"We did not find injured people," said Ricky Estela, a crewman on a
helicopter that flew a politician to the scene. "Most of them are dead and
beneath the mud."
The mud was so deep — up to 30 feet in some places — and unstable that rescue
workers had difficulty approaching the school. Education officials said 200
students, six teachers and the principal were believed to have been there.
Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, issued the casualty
estimates and made an international appeal for aid. The provincial governor
asked for people to dig by hand, saying the mud was too soft for heavy
equipment.
There appeared to be little hope for finding many survivors, and only 53 were
extricated from the brown morass before dark halted rescue efforts for the
night, officials said.
"It was like the whole village was wiped out," said air force spokesman Lt.
Col. Restituto Padilla.
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