MANILA—A mudslide killed at least 9 people in the southern Philippines and rescue workers were scrambling to find another 14 still missing after monsoon rains loosened soil and buried about 20 makeshift houses near a mining town.
Officials said on Sunday dozens of soldiers, police officers, miners and volunteers continued to dig under debris of destroyed homes after the landslide hit Compostela Valley on Mindanao island on Saturday.
There was a second mudslide early Sunday in the same area, covering the only mountain road leading to the stricken village and around 500 people were forced to evacuate in case a third landslide struck.
"Our people are battling against weather and time," said Major Armand Rico.
"We're sending two helicopters to help in evacuating victims to hospitals," he said, adding soldiers from an army battalion had been ordered to help in the rescue efforts.
Disaster officials had ordered residents to leave the shanty towns near the area due to the threat of another landslide and flooding in low-lying areas.
Landslides and flash floods are common in the Philippines during the monsoon months between May and October, particularly near mining areas, low-lying and coastal areas.
In February 2006, more than a thousand people died when days of monsoon rain eroded a denuded forested mountain on the central island of Leyte, burying an entire village, including a school where most of the people had sought refuge.
The country's worst disaster also happened on the same island in November 1991 when 5,000 people were swept to the sea by flash floods brought by monsoon rains.
