Photo from PCG
COTABATO CITY – At least 13 individuals died while several others were missing due to flash floods and landslides that hit Maguindanao, disaster officials said yesterday.
Torrential rains that started at 8 p.m. Thursday spawned by Tropical Storm Paeng also submerged low-lying areas here and in North Cotabato province.
Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, interior minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) told reporters that disaster units in the region have been deployed in Maguindanao’s coastal areas, specifically the town of Datu Blah Sinsuat (DBS), to rescue trapped resisdents.
DBS Municipal Mayor Marshall Sinsuat confirmed yesterday that 11 persons died after they were taken by rampaging waters and a landslide that hit the area at about midnight in Barangays Pura, Nalkan and Tubuan.
“At least five others are still missing,” Sinsuat said, adding that among the fatalities was a village councilman.
Sinarimbo said initial reports from the field received by the Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (READi), BARMM’s humanitarian agency, showed that a total of 13 persons died in DBS and Datu Odin Sinsuat towns, both in Maguindanao.
He said rescue efforts are underway with the help of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division rescue units. (PNA)
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