MANILA: A landslide buried shanty houses in a mining area on a southern
Philippine island, killing at least 25 people and leaving dozens
missing, local disaster and security officials said on Thursday.The
incident, the second one in Pantukan town in almost nine months, took
place near the Kingking area on the southern island of Mindanao, said to
be one of the world s largest undeveloped copper-gold
deposits.Government officials said there had been cracks in the
mountains, caused by earlier landslides, and rain over the past weeks
could have loosened soil. Last month, Typhoon Washi and the flash floods
it caused on Mindanao island killed more than 1,200 people. The latest
landslide hit before dawn, burying people under loosened soil and
boulder, said Lieutenant-Colonel Leopoldo Galon, an army spokesman. He
added that 16 people were also pulled out from under rubble and rushed
to a nearby hospital. Still, about 100 people remained unaccounted for,
security and local officials said. The government s mines bureau has
listed the copper-gold and gold mining operations in Kingking as one of
its priority investment projects.
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