DALAGUETE, Cebu — Authorities shifted yesterday their operation to mere retrieval work, dimming the hopes for the rescue of miners trapped in a coal tunnel at Sitio Maantod Canlawilao, Barangay Dumalan, this town.
But Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Allan Sesante said yesterday he and many residents could not consider dead the six miners, who were entombed in the coal mine after a methane gas explosion last Saturday, unless their bodies are recovered.
Relatives of the six trapped miners, however, believed that it was impossible for the victims to be still alive, considering that three days have already passed.
Experts have also claimed that the explosion was so powerful that the miners would not have survived it, and even if the tunnel did not collapse, they would have suffered carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Mayor Sesante was hopeful that the rescuers would finally reach the site where the six miners had been trapped. He said that minus the glitches, the rescuers would be able to retrieve the bodies.
Eight miners were on their way out of the 490-meter tunnel in Barangay Dumalan, a mountain village about 25 kilometers from the town proper, when an explosion occurred at about 7 p.m. last Saturday. The miners immediately retrieved the bodies of two fellow miners shortly after the explosion because the fatalities were near the entrance of the tunnel.
The six miners, however, were trapped deep in the tunnel.
They were identified as Francisco Ybañez, 43, and Jaime Sanchez, 42, both of Dumalan, Dalaguete; Nelson Villacis, 39, of Negros Oriental; Manuel Lanogan, 45, of Canlawilao, Dalaguete; Antonio Jose, 37, and Gregorio Amad, 35, both of Ablayan, Dalaguete.
"I am now praying for a miracle so I can see my husband walking out of the mine alive," said Thelma Villacis, whose husband Nelson was among the six miners.
Police said the hammering and chiseling of the miners could have produced sparks and ignited the methane gas, causing the explosion inside the mine owned by Ibalong Resources, a Taiwanese-owned company.
Rescue teams of the Philippine National Oil Corp. based in Tongonan, Leyte and Zamboanga arrived yesterday to reenforce local rescuers. The Bureau of Fire Protection will also be sending its rescue personnel.
It was gathered that the operations will continue until the rescuers reach the place where the six miners were entombed. This may take a few days, one rescuer said.
Mayor Sesante, said the coal mine in Dalaguete produces about 3,000 to 3,500 tons of coal every month, supplying local cement manufacturers and the National Power Corp.
The Department of Energy (DoE) has launched an investigation into the explosion, which is the second fatal accident involving Ibalong Resources this year.
Last July 27, a miner was killed and three of his companions were hurt after a portion of a mine site at Sitio Maangtud, Barangay Dumalan collapsed. #
by mars mosqueda jr.
