Landslide kills five in southern Philippines*

19 Nov 2007 10:35:47 GMT
Source: Reuters

MANILA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A landslide triggered by heavy rain killed
five people after it buried a housing facility for miners in the
southern Philippines on Monday, an army commander said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Leouel Santos, a battalion commander in Surigao del
Norte province, said five bodies had been dug out of the collapsed
building at the Bayugo gold and copper exploration site run by Manila
Mining <MA.PS>.

"We've recovered all the bodies but we're still checking if there were
still some missing miners," Santos told reporters, adding people staying
in the mine site had been advised to move to higher and safer ground.

Santos said the men, who worked at the exploration site, were staying at
a rented house close to where Manila Mining kept equipment when
rampaging flood waters and mud swept through the area at about 6 a.m.
(2300 GMT) on Monday.

"Luckily, only one house was buried," he said, adding a larger community
of miners was spared.

Manila Mining is conducting a feasibility study at the copper-gold site
in partnership with a unit of Anglo American <AAL.L><AGLJ.J>, the
world's third-biggest miner.

Across the Philippines, communities are at risk from landslides during
the rainy season, which usually starts in May and lasts until October.

Last year, at least 1,850 were killed or declared missing and tens of
thousands left homeless after a slew of typhoons crashed into the centre
of the country. (Reporting by Manny Mogato, editing by Carmel Crimmins)