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Sounds detected at landslide site

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.
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