Hopes fade for children buried by landslide

The threat of more rain-triggered landslides slowed the search for survivors today at a Philippines primary school buried by up to 100 feet of mud after a mountain collapsed on a village.

Rescue teams used sensors in an effort to detect sounds and movements similar to those monitored yesterday, although it was unclear whether the underground activity had come from survivors, or shifting earth and water. The likelihood that anyone was alive under the tons of dense mud diminished with each hour.

Joel Son, head of a rescue team of Filipino miners, said the mud was so deep that searchers had yet to find the school where up to 300 children were in class when the disaster struck the farming village of Guinsaugon in the eastern Philippines on Friday.

“Safety is an ongoing concern right now because of the rain,” said US Marine captain Burrell Parmer, one of hundreds of American servicemen involved in the recovery operation. “So far, no survivors have been recovered. It’s a sad deal.”

Search teams moved carefully, unable to work as fast as they wanted for fear that their movements could set off more landslides.

The smell of rotting bodies wafted through the command post of the relief effort, just over half a mile from the landslide site.

Under the glare of generator-powered lights, a multi-national group of troops and technicians worked into the night yesterday with shovels, rescue dogs and hi-tech gear, including sound- and heat-detection equipment.

US Marine captain Mark Paolicelli said Marines stayed at the school site until 11pm local time yesterday, but left overnight because geologists warned them that heavy rains and danger of mudslides made the area unsafe.

No one has been pulled out alive since just a few hours after the disaster and an estimated 1,000 people are feared dead. The confirmed death toll is 84.

South Leyte governor Rosette Lerias was optimistic when US and Malaysian forces picked up sounds of scratching and a rhythmic tapping yesterday.

“That’s more than enough reason to smile and be happy,” Lerias said. She described the sounds as “signs of life”.

Rescue workers were digging at two places – one where the school was believed to have sat close to the mountain, the other 200 yards down the hill, where the landslide could have carried it.

Dozens of US Marines and Filipino soldiers, along with local miners, dug into the muck with shovels and moved it with body bags, draining the murky water in large bottles.

Some officials suggested leaving the village as a massive cemetery because digging out bodies was too difficult and dangerous. Some unidentified bodies were buried in mass graves.