Rescuers retrieve a body of one of the victims after a landslide due to heavy rains at Monkayo town in Davao de Oro province, southern Philippines on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. A landslide set off by days of heavy rain buried a house in the southern Philippines where people were holding Christian prayers, killing multiple people, including children, and seriously injuring some others, a disaster-response official said. - AP
MANILA (AFP): The death toll from a landslide in the southern Philippines has risen to 10, a disaster official said Friday, as the search for one missing person continued.
Fourteen people were gathered in a house for a prayer meeting in the mountainous gold mining region of Davao de Oro province when the landslide hit Thursday following days of heavy rain.
Rescuers have recovered 10 bodies, including five children from the same family, Monkayo municipal disaster officer Rocris Idul told AFP.
One man, a woman and a one-year-old baby girl were pulled alive from the mud. The adults suffered minor injuries, but the child was severely hurt, official data showed.
One person is still missing.
"We're hoping to find the last body as soon as we can," Idul said, but added that search operations were being hampered by more landslides in the area on Friday.
"A significant mass of land was eroded in the area this morning so we had to stop for around 15 to 30 minutes," Idul said.
"We cannot risk the lives of our responders." - AFP
