2 miners killed, 5 others hurt in ComVal tunnel collapse

Two miners were killed while five of their co-workers were injured when their small-scale mining tunnel collapsed in gold-rich Compostela Valley, police authorities said Saturday. Senior Superintendent Aaron Aquino, director of the Compostela Valley provincial police, said the two fatalities were identified as 25-year-old Rey Lancian and Christopher Cruda. Aquino said the accident happened at a small-scale mining site in Sitio Hangadong at Barangay Golden Valley in Mabini town. Those who survived the tunnel collapse with injuries were Cornelio Rabor, 38; Joseph Ray Maitim, 24; Racleo Toraque, 30; Reynante Candelario, 35; and Alberto Pastillas, 38. The police official said the incident happened when water surged from an old adjoining tunnel and into the tunnel the victims were working in. “The investigation revealed that they were digging inside the tunnel when they accidentally hit an adjoining portion of a pit of an old abandoned tunnel containing a large volume of water," said Aquino. Investigators said the victims could have easily gotten out of the tunnel by letting the water sweep them out of the cave. But as the water gushed out, the tunnel wall caved in, its mix of rock and soil making it harder for the miners to get out. The bodies of the two small-scale miners have already been retrieved from the collapsed tunnel, Aquino said.—Mark D. Merueñas/JV, GMA News