Landslide buries five people in Philippine south

MANILA, June 21 (Reuters) Five people were buried alive in the southern Philippines, including a four-year-old girl, in a landslide triggered by heavy rain in a small mining town, an official today said.

Carmelito Lupo, head of the Office of Civil Defence in Davao areas on the southern island of Mindanao, said six houses were also covered by mud that rushed down on remote Pantukan town on Monday.

''Our rescue teams were still trying to dig and recover the bodies of five people buried under tonnes of mud,'' Lupo told reporters, and said residents has been asked to move to safer areas.

Residents pulled out from the mud five people with minor injuries, including a four-month-old boy, he said. Many others fled before rainwater and mud covered their shanties.

Lupo said heavy rain, brought by a weather disturbance, for several days had loosened the soil in the area.

Lupo said hundreds of small miners, including those who panned gold in the mountain streams, could be at risk around Davao region's mining area. The town has been identified as a landslide prone area due to the unstable ground.

In February, nearly 1,000 people were entombed under metres of mud following weeks of heavy rain in Sogod, a farming village on the central island of Leyte.

REUTERS SY RS1405