Quarry collapses, traps 2 miners | Sun.Star.

CEBU CITY — A landslide triggered by incessant rains blocked a remote stone quarry, leaving two miners trapped Thursday in Argao, Cebu.

The landslide struck a mining area in Barangay Calagasan around 9:10 a.m. Small-scale miners have been digging limestone in the area for almost two years.

Heavy rains had weakened the soil in the mountainous area. Earth loosened and, together with boulders, fell and blocked the entrance of the quarry.

A house below it was almost crushed and buried. As of 9 p.m. Thursday, rescuers were still trying to pull out Nelson Pantojan, 33, and Fidelito Alforque, 30.

The two men were not injured but had no food and source of light.

Another miner, 22-year-old Joey Langi, was lucky to have gone out just before the landslide occurred.

He said they asked him to check what was happening outside since they heard something like a crushing sound and felt the earth shaking.

He ran for his life when he saw boulders falling and sought help from residents.

Langi said they dig limestone to be used in stonecraft that is for export.

Miners can sell limestone at one peso per kilo.

The quarry site is 24 kilometers away or an hour’s drive from the town proper.

Rescuers from the Mama Boria Sunrise Industries (MBSI), Argao Police Station and a medical rescue team were helping in the pullout of Pantojan and Alforque.

A team formed by Argao Municipal Councilor Guillermo Caminero Jr. used backhoes but found out that driving them only caused more vibration that would result to more earth collapsing.

“We dug it first from above but the trapped miners would protest, shouting that it was causing more shaking,” Isabello Alburo, one of the MBSI miners, said in Cebuano.

The trapped miners were only about five meters from the entrance of the quarry.

The lot, owned by Rogelio Fuentes, has a permit from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

Barangay Calagasan chairman Teodulo Alberca said it was the first time that a landslide occurred since mining in the area began in 2009.

A plan by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to have the area planted with trees has been stalled because seedlings were short, Alberca said.

Dr. Eddie Llamedo, MGB information officer, said Fuentes’s permit covers 1.16 hectares and is good until January 16, 2012. The permit was issued on January 17, 2011.

Llamedo said a team will be sent to the area Friday to investigate. (with BAP/Sun.Star Cebu)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on June 03, 2011.