5 people killed in landslide in south Philippines

Manila, July 10: Five people were killed, including a pregnant woman, after heavy rains triggered a landslide in a famous goldrush area in the southern Philippines, officials said today.

Franco Tito, a village captain on Mount Diwata, about 600 miles (965 kilometres) south of Manila, said the victims were killed in an avalanche of boulders and soil while eating dinner on Monday evening.

One of the victims was four months pregnant, a police spokesman said.

The lure of gold has attracted tens of thousands of small-scale miners to Mount Diwata, or Diwalwal as it is commonly known, honeycombing its rocky soil with a warren of tunnels and making their settlements susceptible to landslides.

The 8,100-hectare reservation is believed to have the richest gold deposit in the Philippines, according to the government.

Across the archipelago, communities are at risk from landslides during the Philippine rainy season, which usually starts in May and lasts until September.

Last year, at least 1,850 were killed or declared missing and tens of thousands were left homeless after a slew of typhoons crashed into the centre of the country.

Reuters>