ST. BERNARD, Southern, Leyte - Death toll is expected to rise as most of the rescuers noticed no sign of life in the landslide area.

Isidro Elumba, team leader of the Surigao City emergency rescue alert team, in an interview said that finding survivors in the area was so tough because boulders and mud could be seen throughout the area. “We need a miracle to find survivors,” Elumba said.

He also said that heavy equipment are needed in the area for easy finding of survivors, if there are any, and of cadavers. He recalled that in 2003, a landslide occurred in one of their barangays and killed 11 people. But he said they were able to retrieve the dead bodies in a matter of days with the help of heavy equipment.

In an earlier briefing headed by Southern Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias, with other line agencies, their plan was to penetrate the school site where some 200 people mostly pupils were believed to have been buried under the school building. They were sending three teams to search the area, hoping to find survivors.

But Dr. Ted Esguerra, an EMS physician of the Philippine Coast Guard, who is the medical officer of the 1st Mt. Everest Expedition Filipino team disclosed that finding survivors in the area is very impossible based on his experience.

He also hoped for a miracle to happen most especially that the incident happened four days already.

Dr. Esguerra said they already pinpointed where the exact location where the school was carried by mudslide and that they are hoping to retrieve survivors or dead bodies in the pinpointed area.

US soldiers from the 31st Marine Corp. based in Osaka, Japan were exploring the area, together with local search and rescue teams.

Lt. Joel Coot said they are exploring the area to know what would be the primary needs there.

Earlier, Chinook helicopters landed at the St. Bernard Central School and dropped several cartons of assorted relief goods. A number of US Marine soldiers were also set up a command post at the municipal hall. Col. Walter Miller, the commanding officer of 31st Marine Corps, and Capt. Mark Donahue, were on board the Chinook choppers that delivered relief goods here.