(Eagle News) — A total of 14 survivors were rescued from the landslide site of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) building at Sitio Sakrang, Bgy. Banawel,, Natonin, Mt. Province, according to the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Cordillera.
As of 2 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31, five people were recovered dead, while nine were still missing in the landslide that buried three buildings of the DPWH second engineering district office in Natonin town, said a tweet by PIA-Cordillera.
It said that the DPWH La Union 1st District Engineering Office Rescue already “sent a team to Natonin, Mountain Province to assist in the search, rescue and retrieval operations in Mt Province 2nd District Engineering Office particularly at the landslide affected area.”
The DPWH office in Natonin was a four-storey building which was still relatively new.
Natonin Mayor Mateo Chiyawan identified the survivors of the landslide as Reagan Gollingoy, Inocencio Gollingoy, Jr., Francisca Gollingoy, Jupiter Gaawan, Joventino Lammawin, Jordan Polic-ew, Ryan Polic-ew, Erwin Adlucan, Andrew Borillo, Edot Arucan, Junior Amon, Oliver Lamarca, Jefryl Lamarca, and Fritjerald Lumpanga.
The fatalities were identified as Benito Longan, Junjun Laron, Mike Saliw-an and Joel Arevalo, and a still unidentified recovered dead person.
The mayor said that most of the survivors were able to seek refuge in the houses of their relatives and just reported to the municipal disaster risk reduction and management council today so they could be removed from the missing persons list.
Two of the 14 survivors were rescued last night by the initial batch of rescuers dispatched to the site. The two survivors were able to seek cover upon seeing the flow of mud and rocks from the mountain slope.
Before this, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said that nine people were reported dead after the onslaught of typhoon Rosita, international name Yutu, in Northern Luzon.
Earlier, OCD regional director for the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) Director Ruben Carandang said that 31 people were inside the DPWH district engineering office in Natonin municipality when the landslide occurred.
He said there were 20 DPWH contractors, one project engineer, three security guards and seven evacuees in the building.
