33 killed mostly in landslides set off by storm south of Manila, says Philippine police official

A Philippine provincial police chief said Friday that 33 people were killed mostly in landslides set off by Tropical Storm Trami in a province south of Manila.

The deaths caused by landslides and flash floods in Batangas province brings to 65 the overall death toll from Trami, which blew away Friday from the northwestern Philippines, Batangas police chief Col Jacinto Malinao Jr said.

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

With the use of a backhoe and shovels, police scrambled to search into 10 feet of mud, rocks and debris and found a part of a head and foot that apparently were those of the missing woman and child.

“He’s simply devastated,” Malinao said of the villager, whose wife and child were buried in the landslide that happened Thursday afternoon amid torrential rains.

“He’s in shock and couldn’t speak and we’re only asking him to point to where their bedroom was located so we can dig in that part.”