MANILA, Feb 9, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The rescue of a child on Friday nearly 60
hours after a landslide hit a gold-mining village in the southern Philippines
has been hailed as a "miracle" after searchers had given up hope of finding
anyone alive.

The girl, whose age has not been disclosed, had been among the more than 100
people missing after the rain-induced landslide hit the village, killing at
least 11 people.

She was found as rescuers used their bare hands and shovels to look for
survivors in Masara village on southern Mindanao island, disaster agency
official Edward Macapili of Davao de Oro province told AFP.

"It's a miracle," Macapili said, adding that searchers had believed the
missing were probably dead.

"That gives hope to the rescuers. A child's resilience is usually less than
that of adults, yet the child survived."

Video of a rescuer carrying the crying, mud-caked child in his arms was
shared on Facebook.

"We can see in the social media posts that the child did not have any visible
injuries," Macapili said.

He said the girl's father saw his child before she was taken to a medical
facility for a check-up.

The landslide struck Tuesday night, destroying houses and engulfing three
buses and a jeepney waiting to pick up workers from a gold mine.

At least 11 people were killed and 31 injured, while more than a hundred are
still missing, official figures show.
 
Searchers were in a race against time and weather to find anyone else alive
in the thick mud as rain fell over the area on Friday.

While rescuers were using heavy earth-moving equipment in places, they had to
rely on their bare hands and shovels in areas where they believed there were
bodies.
 
Sniffer dogs were also being used to detect those buried in the mud and
rubble.

Landslides are a frequent hazard across much of the archipelago nation due to
the mountainous terrain, heavy rainfall, and widespread deforestation from
mining, slash-and-burn farming and illegal logging.

Rain has pounded parts of Mindanao on and off for weeks, triggering dozens of
landslides and flooding that have forced tens of thousands of people into
emergency shelters.

Massive earthquakes have also destabilised the region in recent months.

Hundreds of families from Masara and four nearby villages have had to
evacuate from their homes and shelter in emergency centres for fear of
further landslides.

Schools across the municipality have suspended classes.

The area hit by the landslide had been declared a "no build zone" after
previous landslides in 2007 and 2008, Macapili said.

"People were asked to leave that place and they were given a resettlement
area, but the people are so hard-headed and they returned," he said.