MGB seals Agusan del Sur’s mine tunnel with 3 presumed dead workers

FUTILE SEARCH Mayor Jupiter Abulog (second from left) of Rosario, Agusan del Sur, talks with rescuers during his visit on July 8 at the collapsed gold mining tunnel, where four “abanteros” (mine workers) were trapped. Rescuers were only able to retrieve one body and search for the three others failed. —PHOTO FROM MAYOR JUPITER ABULOG’S FACEBOOK PAGE

FRANCISCO, AGUSAN DEL SUR—The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) along with local government officials, decided to seal off the abandoned mine tunnel in neighboring Rosario town in this province, where four miners were buried when an adjacent tunnel collapsed on July 3.

Of the four who were trapped underneath, only the body of mine worker Jeffrey Tabugon, 29, was recovered, according to Michael Rhay Hambala, the village chief of Bayugan III where the tunnel is located.

For days, rescuers tried to search for the bodies of the three miners—Arnel Alvarado, 38; Richard Bustamante, 29; and John Mark Balagno, 28—before they finally ended the retrieval operations on July 15.

The workers were among those employed by a small-scale mining operator who revived the abandoned tunnel at Sitio Mahunok in Barangay Bayugan III.

But barely two weeks after the start of the operation, the neighboring tunnel collapsed, burying the four workers under the ground.

Eutiquio Quimada, the team leader of the tunnel operation, said at least 22 other mine workers had just exited the tunnel on July 3 when they heard a loud burst of water, which they believed came from an adjacent abandoned tunnel that had collapsed.

Quimada said they waited until the water subsided before searching for the four workers.

Health, safety risks

MGB officials said the abandoned tunnel was located about 15 kilometers from the minahang bayan (community mine) and was operating illegally. But it was not yet clear whether or not the operator would face government sanctions from the illegal operation.

Hambala, the incident commander of the barangay’s disaster response team, told reporters they had to call off the retrieval operation that began on July 3, because of the rescuers’ safety.

He said the collapsed tunnel in Sitio Mahunok was flooded with contaminated water, while the air that rescuers breathed already posed hazards to their health.

Barangay officials and the local government of Rosario town also decided on July 15 to seal off the collapsed site entirely to prevent future attempts to revive the tunnel.

Tabugon’s remains were laid to rest at the Bayugan III’s public cemetery, while the families of the three missing victims were allowed to offer their prayers and pay their last respects at the mine site.

Rochelle Santos, the owner of the tunnel operation, promised a compensation of P100,000 for each of the affected families.