ITOGON—Seventy-one pocket miners were trapped for more than eight hours due to the alleged collapse of their private mine site before being rescued by Benguet Corp. over the weekend.
Lawyer Froilan Roger Lawilao, BC administration department head, revealed the 68 males and three females who were trapped were small-scale miners belonging to the Dalicno Miners Association operating a private mine tunnel in barangay Dalicno here.
“A responsible member of the council of elders and concerned residents of Dalicno reported to Benguet Corp. that many miners were trapped in their private tunnel adjacent to the company’s controlled underground mining area, particularly at Level 1500, because of the alleged collapse portions of a tunnel that prevented them from freely moving out of the area after their work schedule, Lawilao said.
Immediately upon receipt of the report, BC resident manager Antonio Buenavista deployed rescue teams from the safety and security departments and volunteer miners from the Acupan project.
According to Lawilao, the members of the rescue teams had to open a plug-up connecting the underground working area to be able to penetrate the location of the trapped miners.
He added that members of the rescue team had to manually dig for over four to five hours before they reached the trapped miners.
“We were elated that the trapped miners were safe when our rescue teams reached them. We thank the council of elders and citizens in Dalicno for informing us early,” Lawilao stressed.
He claimed the rescued miners were escorted out of the underground working area through the Level 1500 portal and they were immediately taken by BC vehicles from the industrial area to the Balatoc clinic for medical examination.
Members of the Dalicno Miners Association thanked the BC management, particularly Buenavista and Lawilao, Itogon municipal officials led by Mayor Victorio Palangdan and the Dalicno council of elders.
Itogon is one of the mineral-rich areas in Benguet that continues to host large and small mining operations. The municipality is one of the potential Minahang Bayan areas that will be declared under existing laws, rules and regulations.
