MANILA, Philippines: At least 11 people were injured when a rain-triggered landslide buried two buses picking up workers from a gold mine in the southern Philippines, officials said.
The incident took place on Tuesday evening in the town of Maco in the mountainous province of Davao de Oro on the country’s second-largest island of Mindanao after days of heavy rain.
Eleven people were injured, one in critical condition, the city’s disaster agency said on Facebook on Wednesday.
It did not say how many people were on the buses at the time of the landslide or whether rescue operations were underway.
Apex Mining, the Philippine gold mine operator, said the landslide occurred outside the mine site, where buses wait for workers finishing their shifts.
“Apex Mining is currently working to trace the whereabouts of buses dispatched to transport departing employees,” the company said in a statement issued late Tuesday.
“Rescue work is hampered by limited visibility and occasional landslides.”
Meanwhile, an evacuation order for five villages in Mac was posted on the Facebook page of the city’s disaster agency on Tuesday evening.
Among them was the village of Masara, where a landslide occurred.
Rain has lashed parts of Mindanao for weeks, forcing tens of thousands of people into emergency shelters.
At least 16 people died in landslides and floods in the region last week, the national disaster agency said in its latest update.
