LATEST: Diocese of Daet to conduct own probe into mining pit collapse

THE CATHOLIC Church in Camarines Norte will hold its own investigation into a mining pit collapse that has claimed at least one life in Paracale town.

Daet diocese social action director Fr. Edwin Visda they want to know what triggered the incident and determine the real number of casualties.

“There are news reports that are contradictory to what the people there are saying about the cause of the collapse, which is dynamite explosion,” Visda said in an interview on Manila archdiocese-run Radio Veritas, excerpts of which were posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site Friday night.

“The sad news, of course, is that the financier will not admit this [dynamite blast] because of possible liabilities before the law," he said.

Initial reports reaching the diocese showed the tunnel in Barangay Palanas collapsed last Tuesday after dynamite exploded there.

As of Friday morning, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said one was confirmed dead after his body was found near the mining site.

The NDRRMC added at least two were feared dead inside the pit but they have yet to be found.

Meanwhile, Visda cited reports there may be more than three miners who may have been trapped in the pit.

“Logically, if there are eight holes, there could have been more than three people there,” he said.

He also said the latest pit collapse was the fourth in Paracale this year, adding the past incidents were not reported in the media. — LBG, GMA News