Hong Kong OFW reunited with rescued miner

BAGUIO CITY,Philippines - It was a happy reunion for Mario Anayasan, 32, and his wife Aprilin when he finally emerged from a portal of an abandoned mine site in Itogon, Benguet.

Aprilin had to fly in from Taiwan where she works as a domestic helper since August last year, her mother Linda Ponciano told reporters.

"Pina-awid ko isuna ta kada agtawag ket agsangit met," (I asked her to come because every time she called she cried) Ponciano said.

It was a surprise for Anayasan's family, who have been losing hope of seeing him and his companions alive. Anayasan and 15 other traditional miners were unable to get out of the mine tunnel they were working after flash floods submerged Level 700 in the former Benguet Corporation’s Antamok mine site.

Anayasan, from Bauko town in nearby Mountain Province, is among three miners rescued at L700 between 2 and 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The others are Gilbert Nattem and Rudy Boling Jr, both from Banaue, Ifugao.

This brings to nine the total number of rescued miners. Three were rescued Monday, namely Jose Panio Jr., 22; Antonio Ngittit Pagulayan, 22 and Gerry Monyobda, 23. Three more were rescued yesterday and these are Jeyson Himmayod, 20; Robert Buhway, 23; and Gary Gano, 23.

Last Thursday, the bodies of brothers Jojo and Vincent Himmayod were retrieved and brought out from the same portal.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy gave crash coursed on scuba diving to trained local miners on Saturday to facilitate the location of the miners trapped since September 22.

Benguet Mining Action Alert Network spokesperson Vergel Aniceto blamed the collapsed diversion tunnel in the open pit site as the cause of the landslide that blocked water flow.

This was confirmed by Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau regional director Neoman dela Cruz in a separate interview. He said the diverted Antamok River could not flow through the twin diversion tunnels that water found its way into the underground tunnels through the open pit.

As this developed, the rescue operations are geared at de-watering the tunnels by plugging all possible entry of water, according to geologist George Baywong, head of the incident command post. - GMANews.TV

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