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BAGUIO, Philippines: The death toll from Typhoon Hagupit in the Philippines rose to eight with hopes fading for 13 gold miners still trapped in a flooded tunnel, officials said Wednesday.
The civil defence office said four people were drowned, three killed by landslides and one person electrocuted by a fallen power line after Hagupit hit the archipelago on Sunday.
Almost 5,000 people were still displaced by the typhoon that left the country on Monday, heading west towards southern China.
In the northern town of Itogon, rescue workers were still struggling to reach 13 miners who were trapped after typhoon-induced rain washed mud down into their tunnel.
"Their chances of surviving are low," said Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, head of the provincial police, remarking that the trapped miners did not have an oxygen supply even as water flooded the tunnels.
However engineer Neoman dela Cruz, regional director of the mining board, who was overseeing the rescue effort, said they were still optimistic they could reach the trapped miners later in the day.
He conceded their efforts were hampered by equipment breakdowns and a lack of sufficient oxygen for the rescuers trying to dig the miners out.
- AFP/yb
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