2 fishers drown, 2 missing in open pit mining hole

LEGAZPI CITY --- Two fishermen drowned and two other farmers remain missing after they tried to retrieve a submersible pump in an abandoned open pit mining site in Batan Island, Rapu-Rapu, Albay the other day.

Captain Dante Bonafe, acting chief of police of Rapu-Rapu municipal police station, identified the victims as Alyas “Kalbo”, a resident of Sitio Lipata, Barangay Villahermosa, Rapu-Rapu island town and a certain Alyas “Uwak”, a resident of San Roque, Tabaco City.

Bonafe said that the fishermen along with two other farmers identified as Orly Bisco, 40, and Timoteo Balunzo, 30, both of Sitio Calpe, Barangay Calanaga, Batan Island, were trying to retrieve the submersible pump in an abandoned open pit mining site when the incident took place.

Balunzo and Bisco remain missing since the other day while the bodies of Uwak and Kalbo were recovered Tuesday afternoon by joint elements of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the PNP.

Search and retrieval operations on the missing bodies were still ongoing as of press time, according to Bonafe.

Initial investigation revealed that the victims tried to retrieve an abandoned submersible pump at the deeper portion of the open pit mining site.

Bonafe said the submersible pump was left some 30 feet deep in the open pit which was full of water. Two of the men were found drowned while their two other companions had remained missing.