A police officer says he tried to persuade residents of a Philippines mining camp to move to safety as a powerful typhoon approached.
But they appeared unconcerned and refused to leave a day before the storm triggered a huge landslide that buried dozens of people.
Police Senior Inspector Heherson Zambale said in an interview on Tuesday that he was shocked to later learn that a landslide had covered a chapel and bunkhouses in the mountain village in Itogon town, where he and other officials had met the victims a day before the storm hit on Saturday.
Drone footage of Itogon landslide areas where 27 are confirmed dead and 40-50 persons are still buried and hundreds of houses destroyed. Retrieval operations still on-ongoing as reported by @UNmigration teams. #Mangkhut #Philippines pic.twitter.com/LCmHZcVlW8
— Mohammed Abdiker (@AbdikerM) September 17, 2018
Mr Zambale said the residents insisted they would be safe and that they would remain unless the storm became severe.
Rescuers have recovered 14 bodies from the avalanche and at least 58 others remain missing.
