300 stranded miners safely returned to their homes - Mati City LGU

The Mati City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office on Saturday denied an earlier report about 300 miners getting trapped in a mining site and clarified that they had returned safely to their homes.

In a statement, Mati CDRRMO clarified to a reporter who called their emergency hotline that the miners working for Hallmark Mining were not trapped but merely stranded due to the flash flood on Thursday.

Mati CDRRMO head Charlemagne Bagasol said they received a call from one of the relatives of the miners on Thursday to inform them of the situation, after which they immediately coordinated with officials of Barangay Macambol.

“Ang sabi ng kapitan dun na pinabalik ng kompanya yung mga minero sa kanilang kampo para mas safe sila mula sa baha. Then the barangay official suggested na sea rescue na lang and upon assessment we told them na delikado kasi malakas ang agos at malaki ang alon,” Bagasol said.

(The barangay captain said the miners were directed by the company to return to the camp since it was safe from flooding. The barangay official then suggested a sea rescue, and upon assessment, we told them it was dangerous because of strong currents.)

The Philippine Army’s 66th Infantry Battalion assisted with the rescue operation on Friday, while officials of Mati City conducted a road-clearing operation in Barangay Macambol.

''The barangay officials of Macambol confirmed on Thursday that the miners are already safe inside the mining camp. Today, January 20, the miners are said to have gone back to their respective homes safe and sound,'' the Mati City LGU said in a statement.

Hallmark Mining also donated food supplies to families affected by the flooding, the LGU said. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News