High-tech gear has detected sounds at the site of an elementary school buried by a landslide, US and Malaysian officials said yesterday.
It was unclear whether the sounds were made by survivors or whether the soft, unstable mud covering the school was shifting and settling.
The search for survivors from the landslide that swamped the farming village of Guinsaugon -- killing up to 1,400 people -- has focused on the school because of unconfirmed reports that some of the 250-300 children and teachers may have sent cell phone text messages to relatives soon after the disaster on Friday.
However, no survivors have been pulled from the 40-hectare morass that used to be Guinsaugon since Friday, and the mud over the school was believed to be up to 35m deep.
A US military spokesman said late Monday that US Marines digging at the site had found bodies, but no survivors.
"I asked had they received or found any type of survivors, and the answer was no," US Marine Captain Burrell Parmer said after speaking to the commander of US forces at the disaster site.
The statement discounted an earlier report by Philippine Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus that US Marines had found 50 survivors. There was no immediate explanation for how the false report had spread.
"There is a lot of rubble, a lot of large boulders," Parmer said. "On some sides near the river, it's very moist, very soft soil, and you can get stuck up to your heels and your waistline if you're not careful."
Still, the Marines were anxious to discover the origin of sounds detected by seismic sensors.
"The farther down we went, the signals grew stronger," US Marine Lieutenant Richard Neikirk said as he pointed to a spot under a big boulder.
A Malaysian rescue team using sound-detection gear has also picked up noises.
"We have a sound," said Sahar Yunos of the Malaysia Disaster and Rescue Team. "Knocking, something like that."
A rescue dog also stopped three times at one spot away from where rescue workers were digging.
There was no visible sign of the school. Rescue workers were digging at two places -- one that was believed to be the original site of the school, close to the mountain that collapsed on Friday, the other 200m down the hill, where the landslide could have carried it.
Dozens of US Marines and Philippine soldiers, along with local miners, were digging in a watery spot around the school's original site, using shovels on the muck and moving it with body bags, while draining the murky fluid with large water bottles.
The search was a painstaking process as the crews went meter by meter.
The Marines were from the five-man Third Intelligence Ground Sensor platoon, accompanied by 15 armed Marines.
They deployed nine seismic sensors that can detect vibrations underground.
With everyone standing still, one man then used a steel bar to hit on a rock several times and waited for any kind of response underground.
Four sensors detected some "noise" or vibration, but the men could not tell what it was.
Five Taiwanese, who brought heat-imaging equipment, arrived to check for signs of life, too. Rescuers were radioing for water pumps and floodlights to continue working through the night.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was