At least 4 dead, 6 missing after collapse of Cebu mine

At least 4 workers died and 6 remained missing as of Tuesday, December 22, after a mining pit in Barangay Biga, Toledo, collapsed a day earlier.

In a statement, Carmen Copper Corporation (CCC) confirmed a landslide occurred at around 4:15 pm in Carmen Pit on Monday, December 21.

“The incident was traceable to the incessant rains for the past several months and aggravated by Typhoon Vicky, which hit parts of the Visayas, including Toledo City,” the statement said.

The Carmen Pit is CCC’s only mine operations site and is located in Barangay Biga, Toledo City. Currently, CCC has an active mining area of 276 hectares out of the 1,676-hectare total operating area.

At around 1 pm on Tuesday, CCC issued an update stating the incident had indeed taken the lives of 4 of their workers, and adding that the company is continuing efforts to locate 6 more missing persons.

“As 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,” said CCC.

“We have suspended all activities in the mining operations area to ensure the safety of our employees and contractors,” it said.

According to Biga Barangay Captain Pedro Sepada, the host barangay, Barangay Biga, had already filed complaints about CCC’s mining activities before the Mines and Geosciences Bureau Central Visayas (MGB -7) since last year. 

“During sa amoang consultative meetings, nangutana jud mi unsa gyud diay ang standard nga distance from mining operation area to residential area. Nya ang tubag daw sa taga-MGB wala daw standard distance,” said Sepada in a phone interview.

(During our consultative meetings, we really asked what exactly was the standard distance between the mining operations area and the residential area. MGB said there is no standard distance)

Rappler tried contacting MGB-7 for a clarification but has yet to receive any reply.

Sepada claimed that this was not the first time an incident had occurred and disclosed that the mining pit had collapsed in 2013, which claimed the life of his relative.

As of this writing, the Toledo City government’s emergency response team has lent their assistance in the search and rescue operation, which is still ongoing.

In a social media post by Toledo City Public Information Office (PIO), an incident command post had just been established under the supervision of Mayor Marjorie “Joie” Perales in coordination with CCC. – Rappler.com