MANILA, Philippines – Police on Tuesday, September 25, said at least 78 people died in Itogon, Benguet, due to Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut), with most of them killed by a huge landslide that occurred in Barangay Ucab’s Level 070.
Itogon police chief Senior Inspector Heherson Zambale said that of the 78 fatalities in Itogon, 50 were from Level 070. At least 33 people in Itogon are also missing, 27 of whom are from Level 070.
These figures are as of 8 am on Tuesday.
A miners’ bunkhouse at Level 070 was buried by a huge landslide that occurred on September 15 – the day Ompong made landfall in Baggao, Cagayan, and battered parts of northern Luzon.
Zambale said miners and their families refused to evacuate ahead of Ompong’s landfall, despite warnings from police.
Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan had blamed Benguet Corporation for allowing these families to live near the company’s Antamok mining area – an area vulnerable to landslides.
He later urged the company to provide a relocation site for evacuees, and a burial site for the dead. – Rappler.com
Read more stories from Rappler‘s coverage of the Itogon landslide:
- In Itogon, sister volunteers to dig beneath the soil to look for brother
- IN PHOTOS: The Itogon mining community before and after Ompong
- Why mine despite landslide scare? ‘Doon lang kami umaasa’
- FAST FACTS: What to know about Itogon, Benguet
- Itogon women trek a mountain to feed families as men dig for missing
- After tragic landslide, mayor says Itogon to transition to farming
- Rescuers of Itogon: No surrender until all bodies found
- LIST: Deadly landslides in the Philippines
- Itogon tragedy: Disaster response gone wrong
- Itogon tragedy: When the land of promise buried its people
- Twin tragedies: How Itogon and Naga landslides are alike
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