Five miners were confirmed dead following a landslide 12:54 a.m. yesterday in a coal mine in Semirara Island in Caluya town, Antique.

Supt. Marloe Marfil, Antique police chief, identified the fatalities as Abner Lim, Efren Equiza,  Anthony Siblet, Joven Hocate, and Georgie Bragat.

The bodies of Lim, Equiza, and Siblet were retrieved yesterday morning at the Panian open-pit mine, the area where the Semirara Coal and Mining Corp., a company owned by David M. Consunji, Inc. (DMCI), operates.

Hocate and Bragat’s bodies were recovered yesterday afternoon.

Marfil said that the information on the identities of those killed was released by Rogelio Duro, chief security of the Semirara Coal and Mining Corp.

The victims were part of the 13 miners trapped in the 30-hectare coal mine.

After the incident, Marfil said that rescuers from the mining company rescued three miners – Marjun Catoto, Adrian Celmar and Leonardo Sojor.  The two were brought to Semirara Infirmary for treatment while the other one with severe injuries was airlifted to Metro Manila. 

According to Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, Jr., director of Police Regional Office (PRO) 6, the landslide occurred after continuous rains in the area.

“’Yung stock pile na nakuha na ng mga minero ay bumagsak sa seam ng mining pit kaya nag-collapse at nagka-landslide,” he added.

Rescue operations are still conducted on the 6 equipment operators/workers identified as foreman Leovigildo Porras, Jan Riel Planca, Randy Tamparong, Richard Padernilla, and Junjie Gomez.

But this early, though, Marfil said that rescuers might just be conducting retrieval operations.

“Around 30-40 meters of soil covered the open-pit mine. Pero sana, we’re still hoping and praying, na may nakaligtas pa,” he added.

Semirara Island, which is located approximately 280 kilometers to the south of Manila, is considered as the biggest coal producers in the country.

According to earthobservatory.nasa.gov, the northern part of the island is dominated by the Panian Coalfield, the largest of three coalfields on the island. Most of the coal is used for energy generation in the Philippines, with some exported to India and China.

The Panian coalfield is being mined using the open-pit method.

CRACKS IGNORED

Meanwhile, a Semirara village councilman said Thursday the accident could have been avoided.

Mozart Lim, a first cousin of the casualty in the accident, said the mining firm’s Crack Monitoring Team gave out late afternoon of February 13 an advice that cracks were spotted in portions of the mine pit wall but these were reportedly taken lightly by the management.

A member of the Sangguniang Bayan of Caluya town who requested anonymity confirmed the report.

SAFETY ASSESSMENT

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here will send a safety officer to Semirara to assess the health and safety plan of the SMC.

DOLE regional director Ponciano M. Ligutom said that an annual technical inspection is being conducted by their office to determine the occupational safety of workers but he would like the team to probe if what really caused the accident.

“Even buildings have safety plans how much more mining companies,” he said.

He believed that the health and safety plan of the firm is strong but probably there was a problem which he would like the safety officer to determine.

Ligutom said that they may order the mining company to temporarily stop all other remaining works in the area if there is an imminent danger.*with PNA