PNA report: 1 killed, 1 hurt as gold mining tunnel collapses in Benguet

At least one miner was killed while another was injured after a small-scale gold mining tunnel collapsed in Itogon town in Benguet province Thursday afternoon, state-run Philippines News Agency reported. The PNA report quoted Cordillera regional police spokesman Senior Superintendent Dave Limmong as saying the incident occurred at 1 p.m. Limmong identified the fatality as Orlando Dalasiman, who he described as a native of Bontoc in Mountain Province. He said the other miners rushed Dalasiman and the injured miner to a hospital in Baguio City but Dalasiman was declared dead on arrival. The PNA report said the weather was fair in the area at the time of the incident. It noted tunnel mishaps in the past occurred during rainy conditions. In the meantime, Cordillera regional police director Chief Superintendent Benjamin Magalong asked local and mining officials in Itogon to be stricter in mining security requirements. The PNA report said many gold-mine tunnel mishaps occurred in the area since 2000, claiming some 50 lives. It said the incidents included gas poisoning, cave-ins, premature explosion of dynamites and flooding. — BM, GMA News