A report received at Camp Olivas from the Tarlac police said the UP mountaineers were on an outreach program in the hills when a freak thunderstorm swept wide areas in Tarlac and Pampanga late Saturday afternoon.
The report said the bodies of the five, whose identities were not immediately available, were found by villagers in the lower reaches of the Nagasa Creek in the town.
Tarlac police said the hills were among those where a monastery dedicated to a fragment of Jesus Christ’s true cross is located.
The Office of Civil Defense said the mountaineers were caught by the swelling water currents during the thunderstorm that lasted almost an hour.
The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council at Camp Olivas launched rescue operations for the missing mountaineers.
