At least 10 people were killed while 20 others were missing in a landslide at a gold rush site in the southern Philippines Monday, police said.
The victims were mostly gold panners working near the town of Pantukan in Compostela Valley, where authorities have over the years struggled to stop illegal mining operations, police said.
Provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Ronald Dela Rosa said he has dispatched a team of policemen to help in the search and rescue operations.
"The team has not yet reached the site, because the area is so inaccessible," Dela Rosa said, adding that the police officers were moving carefully because the area is populated by communist New People's Army (NPA) insurgents.
Unregulated small-scale mining operations are common in Compostela, and deadly landslides have been frequent in recent years.
In December, three people were killed when a mine tunnel collapsed in the village of Ngan also in the province, while in September, 20 people were killed when a landslide buried 28 houses at a mining village.
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