Landslide strikes buses and homes in southern Philippines, leaving 27 miners missing

27 miners missing after landslide in southern Philippines; search underway, 11 injured, 600 villagers evacuated.

A search was underway on February 7 for 27 miners missing after a landslide struck buses and houses in a gold-mining village in the southern Philippines, officials said.

It’s not clear how many people may have been trapped in their homes when part of a mountainside cascaded down Masara village Tuesday night in the far-flung town of Maco in Davao de Oro province, provincial government spokesman Edward Macapili said, but 11 residents were injured.

Eight miners who were among those waiting on two parked buses that would have taken them home from work Tuesday night jumped out of the bus windows or dashed away and survived when the landslide struck. A third bus had already left, Mr. Macapili said.

Torrential rains that have swamped the region on and off in recent weeks have eased and the weather was clear in the previous three days, Mr. Macapili said.

“It happened so fast,” Mr. Macapili told The Associated Press by telephone. “They suddenly saw the landslide cascading directly toward them.”

The military earlier reported a higher number of missing and surviving miners, saying impassable roads and poor communication lines were hampering efforts to get more specific details from the village.