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Two more bodies recovered from Benguet mining site

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/01/2008 10:22 PM

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Rescue and retrieval teams recovered two more bodies Wednesday afternoon from an abandoned gold mine in Itogon, Benguet where 14 miners were trapped during the height of Typhoon Nina.

Retrieval units and responding miners recovered the remains of Juan Himmayod around 5:45 pm. Half an hour later, they were also able to retrieve the body of Rudy Himmayod.

The recovery of the bodies brought the number of fatalities in the mining site to four. The remains of Jojo and Vincent Himmayod were recovered last week.

Earlier on Wednesday, rescuers were able to save miners Gilbert Nattem Banaue, Mario Annayasan, and Rudy Boling Jr.

Engineer Jorge Baywong, chief of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-Baguio City, said the three were found by Navy personnel and miners who dove at level 700 of the Goldfield Antamok's tunnel in Itogon town.

Von Laurel Cypress of the Philippine National Red Cross Response Unit said the survivors were immediately attended to. 

“[It’s a] miracle... hindi rin kami makapaniwala biruin mo nine days na,” Cypress said regarding the rescue.

With Wednesday's recovery, rescuers have already recovered 11 of the 14 trapped miners in the tunnel, which was blocked by mud and floodwaters after a typhoon-induced landslide a week ago. With a report from Maan Macapagal, ABS-CBN News

as of 10/02/2008 6:32 AM