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Slide rescue may be called off

Survivors of last week's massive landslide in Guinsaugon, Philippines, wait for aid at a school in the town of St. Bernard yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Rescuers continued digging yesterday at a Philippine village buried by a massive landslide five days ago but there were signs that the increasingly forlorn search for survivors may soon be called off.

A major international effort under way at Guinsaugon village in Leyte island will become a search for up to 1,400 bodies if officials formally conclude that no one could still be alive under hundreds of tonnes of mud and rock.

"International experts will meet early tonight to decide whether to continue [searching for survivors]. They will then make representations to the [provincial] governor," said Major General Bonifacio Ramos, head of the Philippine rescue effort.

Refusing to concede

Several rescue officials have said for days that no one could have survived. But publicly at least, others have refused to concede that all hope is lost.

The hopes of anguished relatives were raised briefly when rescuers on Monday reported hearing noises through electronic listening probes, although they were unsure if the sounds were human. Nothing was heard on Tuesday.

Provincial Governor Rosette Lerias refused to abandon hope.

"The fact that they [rescue teams] want to continue digging is a sign of life," she said late on Tuesday. "They told us they will continue digging ... there is no question of giving up."

Hundreds of rescuers from at least five countries are working to locate and dig down to the village school and community hall, the focuses of the operation. Some 240 children and staff are feared buried at the school.

US Marines were to bring in two truckloads of gravel to try to make a road through the morass of mud that covers the village.

A two-tonne drill was being brought from Manila, Marines spokesman Captain Burrell Parmer said.

A sea of mud and rock 30m thick in a few places covers a 9km2 area where the farming village once stood.

Looking for school

Earlier claims that the school had been located appeared to be premature. Teams were searching an area of roughly 100m2 for the school, which is thought to have been swept off its foundations.

"We believe we got the right area," said Lieutenant Joel Servinas, head of a Philippine rescue team on the ground.

"It rained hard last night. The ground moves," he said. "So far we've dug less than 20m. I don't know how far before we get to the school building itself."

"The school was pushed about 1,000m from its actual site. What we need are maps and municipal surveyors here," he said.

Newlywed Almeira Tiempo was praying for a miracle as US Marines and Filipino soldiers dug through a hill of mud believed to mark the spot where a massive landslide buried her family home and the school.

Tiempo was brought in to help pinpoint the location of buildings.

Almeira was at university when disaster struck while her husband Narces was at home in Guinsaugon with his parents. The couple had only been married four months.

"We're hoping and praying that my husband and in-laws are still alive. But if not, we want to get their bodies for a proper burial," Almeira said.

President Gloria Arroyo flew to the site by helicopter yesterday to thank rescuers but was upstaged by former first lady Imelda Marcos who also visited the scene.
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