Eight bodies were recovered and six survivals were rescued by emergency workers on Wednesday (Oct 31). The victims were trapped inside a government building inundated by a wall of mud and rocks, as Yutu typhoon swept across the Philippines.

At least 17 more who sought shelter inside the building, which housed an office of the public works department in Banawel district, Natonin town, in Mountain Province, 450km north of Manila, were listed as missing.

People sift through mud that buried a DPWH building in Natonin town, Mountain Province, Tuesday..Courtesy of Gil Magno

According to regional director of the Office of Civil Defence, Ruben Carandang, there were 31 people inside the building: a project engineer, 20 contractors, three security guards and seven evacuees

The landslide occurred at around 4pm, on Tuesday (Oct 30), he said.

Yutu, locally named Rosita, is the 18th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year. Yutu made landfall early in the morning in Dinapigue town, Isabela province, 268km north of Manila, with winds of 140kmh and gusts of up to 230kmh. It comes just six weeks after super typhoon Mangkhut tore through northern Luzon six weeks ago, triggering rivers of mud that inundated mountain homes and killed over 100 people.

Typhoon Yutu, which caused devastation in some Western Pacific islands, swept across the Philippines on Tuesday, toppling electric posts, tearing roofs off homes, bending trees and pouring sheets of rain that triggered mudslides, across the northern half of the main island of Luzon.

The typhoon had greatly weakened since it made a direct hit on Saipan and Tinian, two islands of the Northern Marianas, an American territory about 9,000km west of the US mainland, as a Category 5 storm packing 270kmh winds last weekend.

Yutu then moved across the main island of Luzon, bringing ferocious winds and heavy rains./.

( VNF )