SAN JOSE, Antique – The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO) confirmed that there was a fatality in a mining pit accident at the Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC).
The mining firm is located in Semirara Island which is under the territorial and political jurisdiction of Caluya, Antique.
Antique DRRM officer Broderick Train said they received a report from the Caluya DRRMO confirming the death of the 22-year-old Lpath Felipe on Tuesday.
Felipe is one the mining firm’s safety officers. He died on Sunday, Train added.
“The cause of death of the worker, however, is not clearly indicated nor had there been a bog down or landslide that happened in the Molavi Pit,” Train stressed.
Molavi Pit is a new mining site of the SMPC, which is adjacent to the company’s Panian Pit.
“The Panian Pit is now closed because of the rehabilitation work,” Train said.
It is at the Panian Pit where a mine collapsed in February 2013, leaving five workers dead. Another incident in the same pit occurred in July 2015 that reportedly buried nine workers alive.
Train, however, said what happened on Sunday night is “not of a disaster level.”
“It is work-related and solely the responsibility of the SMPC,” he said, adding that the community in Semirara Island has not been affected.
“We are submitting this [accident] report to the Regional DRRM Council today,” Train said on Tuesday.
He added that they will wait orders from Gov. Rhodora Cadiao and the Regional DRRMC for a possible investigation.
Noemi Tagle, Felipe’s aunt, said SMPC workers brought her nephew’s body to their residence also in Caluya.
Tagle said Felipe was roving together with two foremen when the incident happened. The two others were rescued alive by their co-workers.
Felipe, on the other hand, brought to the Semirara hospital where he expired, Tagle added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
