The death toll from a magnitude-6.7 earthquake in the southern Philippines has risen to six, with two people still missing, according to local disaster officials on Saturday.
According to the German Research Center for Geosciences, the offshore earthquake happened near Mindanao island on Friday afternoon at a depth of 60 kilometers (37 miles).
The earthquake reportedly killed three people in General Santos City, South Cotabato, according to Agripino Dacera, the disaster office chief. According to Dacera, a man and his wife were killed when a concrete wall collapsed on them, while another woman was slain in a shopping center.
Near the epicenter in Sarangani province, at least two people died, while rescuers are searching for two others missing after there was a landslide, Angel Dugaduga, a disaster response official in the coastal town of Glan, told reporters.
According to Franz Irag, a civil defense officer in the Davao region, a 78-year-old man died after being crushed by a rock in Davao Oriental province. According to disaster officials, power has been restored and most roads are passable, with most reports of minor damage to homes and structures.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
