Thirty-three dead in landslides after storm hits Manila

A Philippine provincial police chief said Friday that 33 people have been killed, mostly in landslides caused by Tropical Storm Trami in a province south of Manila.

The deaths from landslides and flash floods in Batangas province bring the total death toll from Trami, which was blown away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, to 65, Batangas Police Chief Col. Jacinto Malinao Jr. said.

Eleven other villagers are still missing. Malinao Jr. told The Associated Press by phone from the lakeside town of Talisay, where he stood next to a villager whose wife and child were buried in the deep mound of mud, boulders and trees.

Using a backhoe and shovels, police searched through 10 feet of mud, rocks and rubble and found part of a head and foot apparently those of the missing woman and child.

“He is just devastated,” Malinao said of the villager, whose wife and child were buried in the landslide that occurred during heavy rains on Thursday afternoon.

“He is in shock and cannot talk and we are just asking him to point out where their bedroom was so we can dig in that area.”