Following the accident in Davao de Oro province on Tuesday, officials report that 51 people are still missing; however, rescue personnel acknowledge that there is little chance of discovering any more survivors.
The final individual to be extricated alive from the mud was a three-year-old girl.
It was called “a miracle” when she was rescued after being buried for more than 60 hours.
Disaster agency representative for the province of Davao de Oro, Edward Macapili, stated at the time that it had provided “hope to the rescuers”.
However, those hopes didn’t seem to be as strong on Monday.
According to Mr. Macapili, “it is almost a week after the incident and… we are assuming that no one is alive there,” the AFP news agency reported. “There is already a foul smell in the area now so there’s a need to fast-track the retrieval.”
Tuesday night’s avalanche claimed 55 homes, buried three busses, and engulfed a jeepney, a minivan that was waiting to pick up laborers from the gold mine. ABS-CBN News was informed by Lea Anora, a unit member of the Management of the Dead and the Missing (MDM), that 26 mining employees and 42 citizens have died thus far.
Over thirty people suffered injuries.
Much of the Philippines frequently experiences landslides due to the country’s hilly topography, intense rains, and extensive deforestation brought on by illicit logging and mining.
