2 miners die due to gas poisoning, one by landslide

TUBLAY, Benguet --  — Two small-scale miners died due to gas poisoning inside a tunnel in the mountainous Sitio Piket, Barangay Caponga here afternoon of July 17.

Senior Insp. Rolly Albino, Tublay chief of police, said the cadavers of the victims – Francis Michael Sagudin, 39, a native from Barangay Batan, Kabayan, Benguet, and Marlon Agsalo, 21, of SitioBetwag, Barangay Caponga, Tublay, Benguet; were recovered from the mining tunnel shortly after 6 p.m. that day.

It was reported that Agsa-lo and Sagudin, along with several of their companions, entered the tunnel around 4 p.m. but had to get out two hours later because of a foul smell that was suffocating them.

Agsalo reportedly went back inside the tunnel, followed by Sagudin.

Minutes later, their companions went back into the tunnel with a blower to disperse the toxic fumes and found the victims unconscious.

They claimed discovering a poisonous gas in the tunnel owned by Elvis Depaynos, 36 of La Trinidad town.

Earlier, Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan and the Mines and Geoscience Bureau in Cordillera region suspended all mining activities in the province due to the continuous rain caused by southwest monsoon.

In the middle of heavy rain last July 12, a landslide that occurred at the mining site in Sitio Udoudan, Barangay Ampucao, Itogon, killed pocket miner Joven Robiz Bao-anan, 30, and injured his fellow miners Manuel Balang Diano, 30; Amos Robiz  Bao-anan, 21; Glenn Bao-anan Balao, 18; and a 17-year-old minor from Nueva Vizcaya.