A mining company in Toledo City on Tuesday (Dec. 22) said it was continuing efforts to locate six persons missing in a landslide in its area of operations that killed four workers and suspending activities in the site for the safety of its employees.
鈥淭he company regrets to inform that this incident has claimed four lives,鈥� said a statement sent to聽聽by Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC).
鈥淭he company continues its efforts to locate six more persons missing,鈥� the statement said.
鈥淎s of this time, we are in close coordination and communication with the affected immediate families and will continue to extend the needed support and assistance,鈥� CCC said.
鈥淲e humbly ask the general public to exercise caution and responsibility in distributing information out of respect for the affected families,鈥� it said.
鈥淲e would like to extend our utmost gratitude to private groups and the Toledo City government emergency response team for extending valuable assistance in our search and rescue operations,鈥� said the mining firm.
It said it was in 鈥渃lose coordination and communication with concerned government agencies as we continue to conduct all necessary actions to assess and address the situation.鈥�
鈥淢eanwhile, we have suspended all activities in the mining operations area to ensure the safety of our employees and contractors,鈥� the company said.
Torrential rains were believed to have led to the landslide on Monday (Dec. 21).
The Carmen site has an area of 1,674 hectares.
In an earlier statement, CCC said the landslide 鈥渨as traceable to the incessant rains for the past several months.鈥�
It was 鈥渁ggravated by Tropical Depression Vicky which hit parts of the Visayas, including Toledo City, last Friday, Dec. 18, 2020,鈥� the statement added.
Prior to the landslide, CCC operations have been questioned by locals.
In 2019, residents of a village in Toledo, Biga, wrote to Mayor Marjorie Perales asking for the transfer of CCC operations to another location, blaming the mining site for respiratory diseases among villagers.
They also reported that some of the residents鈥� houses have suffered cracks on floors and walls that the villagers attributed to vibrations from CCC operations.聽With Karl Ocampo
EDV/TSB