Raging floodwaters kill one Army rescuer

NEW BATAAN, Compostela Valley----- A military company base was swept away by raging floodwaters during the onslaught of typhoon 'Pablo' here o n Tuesday (Dec 4), killing one soldier and injuring another, a military report said.

The troops of Charlie Company, 66th Infantry Battalion of the Army's 10th Infantry Division led by 1st Lt Alex Marvin Deazeta was put on red alert for possible disaster response operations in Andap village here, when the incident happened yesterday.

 

Initially, 6 soldiers were reported missing at around 6:00pm but there were conflicting reports due to the lack of lines of communications with the said unit.

 

Deazeta was injured when he and some of his subordinates were swept away by the flood. His company First Sergeant did not survive.

 

More soldiers from the battalion were sent to conduct search and retrieval operations for the missing soldiers and civilian residents whose homes were also devastated by the sudden rush of floodwater and mud.

 

At least 43 people were reported dead here as of 8:00pm (Dec 4) but the number has risen to at least 60 early morning today, as more fatalities were retrieved by rescuers.

 

Col Angelito De Leon, the Commander of the 1001st Brigade has established an Incident Command Post (ICP) in the boundary of Nabunturan and New Bataan towns, to monitor the ongoing disaster response operations carried out by the soldiers under his command.

 

Four soldiers from C/66 IB have remained missing as of 10:00am today (Dec 5).

 

In Boston town, Davao Oriental, 29 people were confirmed dead while at least 3,000 people were evacuated to safer grounds.

 

In Caraga town, Davao Oriental, the San Antonio Bridge collapsed, leaving people stranded in nearby communities.

 

In Manila, the DSWD and NDRRMC have prepared to airlift through C130 plane at least 7,000 lbs of relief supplies intended for the affected communities in Davao and Compostela Valley, at around 5:00pm today.