2 quake survivors found under Dumaguete rubble — NDRRMC

Four days after a deadly quake hit the Visayas, rescuers on Friday found two survivors from underneath the rubble left by landslides in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental province.

 

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director and Office of Civil Defense administrator Benito Ramos said they rescued two residents who were trapped inside their home in Kagawasan village in Guihulngan City during Monday's magnitude-6.9 quake.

 

He said the two unidentified survivors, who were injured during the incident, have been flown to a hospital in Dumaguete City by an Air Force chopper.  No other details were available on the survivors as of posting time. 

 

Meanwhile, Ramos said the death toll from Monday's quake rose to 39 on Friday after authorities retrieved five more bodies from the landslides.

 

He said the five fatalities included a headless woman whose body was retrieved from a landslide area in Planas village in Guihulngan City.

 

"The operations resumed today [Friday] and we retrieved five bodies in retrieval operations in two areas. It resumed sunrise, it's now sunny here. We are trying to find the 66 that remain missing,” he said

 

Rescue efforts were suspended on Thursday due to potential danger from landslides caused by rain and aftershocks.

 

But Ramos noted they are not giving up their operations yet despite the slim chance of recovering anymore survivors. Ramos said 26 more bodies may still be under the rubble left by previous landslides. — with Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News