Hope Fades at Site of Philippine Mudslide

Police officer Loreto Binondo is searching for a gold ring. He rushes to each body pulled from the mud and checks for the band he recently gave his wife, Ann, on their 20th anniversary.

“When I find it, I find her and I can say goodbye,” said a weary Binondo. “I’ll keep doing this until the recovery operations stop. I have no home, no one to come home to.”

On Sunday, for the second consecutive day, rescue crews found no survivors beneath the millions of tons of mud that has covered this remote village of about 1,800 people since a massive slide buried it Friday.

A force of about 1,000 U.S. Marines arrived off the coast of Leyte island Sunday, and dozens arrived at the slide site, where they began digging.

Rescuers, including teams from Malaysia and Taiwan, used trained dogs and sound-sensing equipment in the search for survivors, including about 250 people trapped in an elementary school.

Relatives had reported receiving cellphone messages from teachers and students, but nothing has been heard from them since early Saturday. Rescue crews digging above the school site with hand tools have been unable to reach the building.

Philippine Coast Guard Lt. Ted Esguerra, who is working with a Malaysian rescue team using sensitive sound-detection equipment, said rescuers thought they had detected scratching noises at the school site Sunday afternoon.

At that point, measurements showed that the mud above the school was 28 feet deep. But Esguerra said a measurement later in the day indicated that the mud had subsided by eight feet, raising fears that any air pockets had been eliminated.

Hundreds of residents like Binondo were away from the village at the time of the slide, but officials estimate that 900 to 1,400 people were crushed by the wall of mud.

Authorities say 72 bodies have been recovered. The precise number of victims may never be known. No one has been pulled alive from the mud since 20 were rescued Friday. Earlier reports had said 57 survivors were found Friday, but on Sunday authorities lowered the number to 20 without explanation.

“One hundred percent of the people here are dead,” said a dejected Philippine army Capt. Eduardo Domingo. “There’s no indication of survivors here.”

The landslide was triggered by two weeks of heavy rains. Since the beginning of February, nearly 24 inches of rain has fallen in the area. Normal rainfall for the village in the entire month of February is 6 inches.

Many residents had evacuated Guinsaugon before Friday’s slide, but returned home as the rain appeared to subside. Survivors said they heard a loud explosion as the mountainside collapsed, sending mud and boulders cascading onto the village.

Southern Leyte island, where Guinsaugon is located, is known for its geological instability. Landslides triggered by heavy rains killed 6,000 on the island in 1991.

Binondo, the police officer, said he had left his wife and three children at their home near the school Friday morning and gone by motorcycle to buy fish and vegetables for lunch. As he was riding home, he said, he saw the mountainside collapse and watched a wall of mud and stone bury everything in its path.

Wearing the same jeans and T-shirt he put on before leaving home Friday, he travels between the mud field and the morgue, searching for that ring.

But he is beginning to conclude that his entire family is gone. Soon, he says, it will be time to call off the search and turn the site into a memorial.

“I have to face life alone now,” he said. “Although there remains a very small flame of hope inside me, I know I cannot get them back. I cannot get my life back.”

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Times staff writer Paddock reported from Singapore and special correspondent Santos from Guinsaugon. Special correspondent Sol Vanzi in Manila also contributed to this report.