TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan – Authorities continue operations to recover the bodies of miners trapped in a tunnel in Barangay Runruno, Quezon town, Nueva Vizcaya province on Tuesday, June 24.
MINE ENTRANCE
Two miners were rescued alive on Tuesday by civilian volunteers who managed to enter the tunnel.
Alfred Bilibili was revived at about 4 p.m. and taken to a government hospital in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.
Three hours later at 7:30 p.m., Joval Bantiyan was revived and taken to a hospital in Bayombong.
They are now in stable condition.
However, two rescuers, John Guinid, 22, and Johnny Ayudan, 38, lost consciousness due to toxic gas inside while searching for them that prompted their colleagues to temporarily suspend operations.
Five miners were reported dead when a colleague who entered the tunnel saw them lying unconscious after midnight Tuesday.
He touched one of them and noticed that they were not responding and presumed they were all dead.
The miner was forced to leave the area due to toxic conditions.
Search and retrieval operation are ongoing.