A group of Taiwanese rescue workers were saved yesterday after getting stuck in soft mud while trying to extricate a body from a landslide that entombed a Philippine farming village.
The incident contributed to a decision to suspend search efforts at the scene of last Friday's disaster amid concerns that heavy rains could spark a new landslide and add to the death toll that stands at 122 and is expected to rise to more than 1,000.
Weary troops and volunteers trudged out or were airlifted by helicopter from the unstable 40-hectare mud field that covers Guinsaugon and its elementary school.
PHOTO: AFP
The Taiwanese disaster experts have been trying to find survivors with heat-imaging gear. Instead, they had to literally be pulled out.
"The seven Taiwanese were pulling one body with a rope under heavy rain out of the mud," said US Marines spokesman Captain Burrel Parmer.
"They got stuck in the mud, then they radioed they needed help, they can't get out, they're sinking in the mud," he said.
Parmer said the Marines immediately dispatched CH-46 helicopters that landed near the Taiwanese.
"The choppers started sinking in the mud, so they had to work fast," Parmer said.
"The Taiwanese refused to leave without the body and were dragging it with them," he said.
Six of the Taiwanese and the body were loaded onto the helicopters, which returned later to pick up the last member of the rescue team with a rope.
Rain and low clouds then shut down the air operation, leaving little activity at the site.
With no survivors found since the early hours after a mountainside on Leyte island collapsed, there was increasing talk of calling off rescue efforts.
A group of 33 firefighters from nearby Cebu, who have been digging every day, said they likely would head home today.
Hillsides over the area where the school is believed to be buried could cave in at any time because of the wet conditions, Lieutenant Colonel Raul Farnacio said.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS