MANILA (Reuters) - Rescuers resumed a search on Saturday for survivors of a landslide that swept through a shanty town in a mining area on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, as the mayor revised down the death toll sharply.
In a 7 a.m. (12 midnight British time Friday) situation report, the national disaster agency said three people were dead, 10 injured and 22 were missing after the landslide, which hit part of Kingking village in the early hours of Friday.
Pantukan Mayor Celso Sarenas said on Friday 27 bodies had been found after the landslide, but later told reporters by text message that he had been misinformed by health workers.
"So far 22 are reported missing but there could be more because there are some transients who arrived but did not register," he said.
Shanty towns have mushroomed around Kingking after a gold rush in the area nearly 20 years ago. Many of the mining operations are illegal and unregulated, and there are frequent accidents.
U.S-based, Canadian-listed mining firm St Augustine Gold & Copper Ltd and the Philippines' Nationwide Development Corp said the landslide happened in a remote area some distance away from where they were conducting environmental and engineering studies.
On its website, St Augustine said the Kingking prospect is one of the largest underdeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world. The government's mines bureau has listed Kingking as one of its priority investment projects. "As quickly as it is feasible and safe, we will offer our assistance to help determine the cause of the incident," the companies said in a joint statement, also offering their assistance in search and rescue operations. "Tragically, landslides of this sort are common throughout this area due to unstable slopes and frequent heavy rains." Two years ago, a landslide in another part of the village killed more than 20 people, including some children. Residents had been ordered to relocate due to the instability of the land and risk of landslides.
The Philippines sits on an estimated $1 trillion (605.6 billion pounds) untapped mineral deposits, but has only targeted to attract $1 billion in mining investment this year.
(Reporting by Manny Mogato and John Mair; Editing by Robert Birsel)