CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 14 November) – Continuous heavy rains in the past few days triggered a landslide at around 5:30 a.m. Sunday in Iligan City, burying an entire family of seven. The parents survived but their five children, the youngest at seven months and the eldest at 8, did not.
Police Major Zandrex Pamolong, spokesperson of the Iligan City Police Office said rescuers used a backhoe to get to the buried house in Purok 2, Tamparak, Baragngay Mandulog in Iligan City and managed to save the parents Shiela Mae Baroro, 26 and construction worker Jissie Barulan, 29, but did not reach the children in time.
The children were identified as CJ Barulan, 8; Kent, 6; Xian, 4; Trishamae, 3; and Shemabel, seven months old.
Pamolong said the rescuers recovered their bodies and rushed them to the Iligan Sanitarium Hospital and Gregorio T. Lluch Memorial Hospital where they were declared dead.
Police Staff Sergeant Dionirel Cutanda said that when they arrived at the scene at around 6 a.m. on Sunday, they found the semi-concrete house of Barulan beside a hill buried under tons of sludge and debris.
“We used everything we can find to dig into the mud but only the parents were able to survive. The children did not,” Cutanda said.
Cutanda said residents in the village reported that several days of rains had loosened the soil of the surrounding hills. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
