53 bodies retrieved after Mindanao quake – fire bureau

MANILA, Philippines, June 12 ------ The death toll of the devastating 7.-8-magnitude quake off Sarangani is seen to further climb above 50 on the fourth day of response and retrieval operations.

The Bureau of Fire Protection on Wednesday said its responders have recovered 53 bodies so far from the operations in the aftermath of the earthquake. The count, however, is still undergoing validation as authorities worked to establish their identities. "There are already 53 cadavers retrieved, and some of them are for validation because authorities are still determining their identities," Arroyo said in a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon interview Wednesday.

The number of retrieved bodies is higher than the official figure of 45 fatalities the national disaster risk reduction agency NDRRMC released as of midday Wednesday. Search and retrieval efforts of the fire bureau are still ongoing in Region 12, with its units from other regions sent to augment local responders. Arroyo said BFP teams from Region 10, Caraga and the Bangsamoro region also deployed support, with Region 11 sending augmentation to Region 12, which he described as more severely affected.

The agency earlier placed BFP Regions 11 and 12 under Code Red Alert, putting 3,441 personnel in the two regions on full alert for humanitarian, rescue and evacuation operations.

Source: philstar.com