TACLOBAN CITY—The number of casualties of typhoon Urduja in Eastern Visayas rose to 42 as more bodies were retrieved from the landslides and newer reports from areas that were previously isolated have started to pour in.
The death toll is expected to increase in the following days as search and retrieval operations continue in two big landslide sites in Biliran province. Search and retrieval operations in the landslide sites were hampered by lack of heavy equipment necessary to remove huge volumes of mud and trees that covered the victims.
Newest data from the Philippine National Police regional office in Eastern Visayas showed three cases of landslides happened in Biliran that claimed the lives of 25 people. About 25 others remain missing; two people were reported injured.
The report, released late afternoon on December 18, showed 14 bodies were retrieved from the landslide site in Barangay Lucsoon in Naval, Biliran. Retrieval operations continue in efforts to recover 15 more people believed buried under mud and rubles. Two of the recovered bodies were not identified while 14 were positively known.
Barangay Lucsoon is just over 2 kilometers from the town center of Naval, the center of political governance of Biliran province.
In the town of Caibiran at the other side of the province, the Philippine National Police reported seven casualties were retrieved from the landslide site in Barangay Cabibihan while nine others remain missing. An earlier tabulation of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center in Biliran showed 14 bodies were recovered from the site. No one was reported missing.
In the town of Almeria, four bodies were retrieved from a smaller landslide in Barangay Salangi. One person remains missing.
Still in Biliran three casualties were believed to have drowned—two in Naval and one in Biliran—due to swollen rivers and tributaries from the four days of continuous heavy rain brought by Urduja.
In other parts of Eastern Visayas, three people died in Leyte, Southern Leyte and Ormoc City, while 14 others died of drowning: five in Leyte, three in Eastern Samar and one each in Samar Tacloban and Ormoc. In Eastern Samar search and rescue operations were conducted for seven people who remain missing.