MANILA, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Four members of a family were killed after a landslide struck a village in Cagayan de Oro city in the southern Philippines late Thursday night, authorities said Friday.
The landslide occurred at around 10 p.m. local time, burying a house in Agusan village while the occupants were asleep. The fatalities include a husband, his wife, and their two kids, authorities said.
The couple's eldest child, who survived the incident, said the family was in deep sleep when the landslide suddenly occurred, causing soil and debris to collapse onto their home.
Authorities blamed the tragedy on continuous heavy rainfall from tropical storm Penha, locally known as Basyang, which loosened the soil, making the area prone to landslides.
Penha has also caused flooding in many areas in the southern Philippines. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Penha affected a total of 1,848 families, or 6,152 people, in 21 villages across the Caraga region in northeastern Mindanao island.
Penha is currently over the Bohol Sea, moving west-northwest toward the central Philippines at 20 km per hour, the state weather bureau said in its latest advisory on Friday. ■
