Natigil ang isinasagawang “search and retrieval operations” sa Barangay Masara sa Maco, Davao de Oro dahil sa panibagong landslides.
Sinabi ni Army Brig. Gen. Ronnie Babac, commander ng 1001st Infantry Brigade, alas-2 ng hapon kahapon nang maulit ang landslide kayat nagtakbuhan ang rescue workers.
“There was a small landslide so Apex called for the suspension of the retrieval operation because of the possibility of a bigger landslide. That’s why all the operations now are totally stopped,” sabi ni Babac.
Hanggang kahapon, umakyat na sa 71 ang kumpirmadong nasawi sa trahedya at may 51 pang nawawala at may tatlumput-dalawa naman ang nasugatan.
Ayon pa kay Babac napakaliit na ng posibilidad na may makukuha pang buhay sa paghuhukay sa tone-toneladang gumuhong lupa.
“In search and rescue, there is a very high possibility that there are more survivors so the conduct of the search is more careful. If you’ve seen how our backhoe operators handle the machine, they treat it like the hand of a cat. There were rescuers observing the backhoe and using hand signals whenever they see body parts,” paliwanag nito.