Thursday February 23, 2006
Confirmed death toll rises in Philippines landslide
GUINSAUGON, Philippines (AP): The confirmed death toll in the landslide that buried a farming village in the Philippines rose to 122 on Thursday, with officials fearing it could surpass 1,000.
Under heavy rains, searchers struggled to locate an elementary school beneath tons of mud, still hoping against the odds that they would find survivors.
Rescue teams with sniffer dogs and sound detectors combed the muddy swamp that was once the village of Guinsaugon. About 65 Marines in rubber boots and carrying picks and shovels were digging, and the American military planned to begin using a two-ton drill in the afternoon to assist in the excavation.
Some searchers turned back because of the rains, which washed out a foot bridge and prevented use of a earthmover in the digging. Water flowed down a mountainside in one area, and there were signs of fresh landslides. A dump truck carrying a Taiwanese team got stuck in the river beside Guinsaugon, and a U.S. Marine earth mover pushed it to the other side.
"The operation is still search and rescue,'' said Gov. Rosette Lerias of Southern Leyte province. "We look for life. That is the purpose of all this high-tech equipment coming in.''
At least 10 bodies were recovered on Wednesday, and emergency officials said the confirmed death toll had risen to 122.
Workers found one body floating in a pond, and used banana tree trunks to retrieve it.
Hundreds of other residents more were missing.
John Lapuz, a geologist from the University of the Philippines in Manila, said the U.S. military drill could greatly assist operations after days of frustration. The village was buried in up to 35 meters (100 feet) of mud when part of a mountain collapsed on it last Friday, and workers have had to move carefully to avoid triggering more landslides.
"Once the drilling starts, we should have some indication of whether the school is there or not,'' he said.
During the search on Wednesday, holes dug in the soft muck kept collapsing. Heavy rain forced troops and volunteers to call off work overnight.
No one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the disaster last week, which followed two weeks of heavy rain on Leyte island.
Up to 300 children and teachers are thought to have been trapped in the school.
Searchers have been unable to find the school building, uncertain whether it was still on its foundation or was swept away by the wall of earth, boulders and trees.
Rescue workers have used thick blue rope from the Marines to mark off a large area that they believe to be the perimeter of the property where the school was located. The site was determined using a satellite map, a topographical map and layout of property boundaries.
High-tech gear detected some underground sounds late Monday, creating excitement among troops, miners and volunteers. But when no survivors were found, engineers put it down to the sounds of the mud settling.
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