ONE of the coal pits of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC), the country’s largest coal producer, in Caluya town, Antique province. (Tara Yap)
ILOILO CITY – A miner was killed in a landslide in a coal mining pit of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC), the country’s largest coal producer, in Caluya town, Antique province.
The Caluya Municipal Police Station (MPS) identified the victim as Ronilo Purgatorio, 48.
Police said Purgatorio was driving a bulldozer at the Narra Pit when the landslide occurred and buried him on Sunday, March 1.
Caluya MPS deputy chief Police Capt. Richard de Vera said the victim was declared dead on arrival in a hospital.
De Vera denied online posts claiming that three other miners were killed in the landslide.
“That’s not true. It’s fake news. There’s only one dead and no one else was injured,” De Vera said in a phone interview on Monday, March 2.
SMPC, a subsidiary of the Consuji-led DMCI Holdings Inc., had several deadly incidents for more than a decade. The last major fatal incident was in 2018 when a miner was buried by a mudslide in the Molave Pit. Nine miners died in 2015 while five miners were also killed in 2013.