MANILA: Five people on a charity mission have drowned and another six are missing after they were swept away by sudden currents while crossing a creek in the northern Philippines, officials said.

The victims were among 55 mountaineers of the University of the Philippines (UP) who traveled on Sunday to a remote mountain village in Tarlac province to donate food to poor tribesmen, said Regional Civil Defense officer Charmaine Mallari.

Mallari said Monday that the hikers were crossing the Nagsasa Creek in San Jose town of Tarlac on Monday afternoon when the current suddenly grew rough and swept away nearly a dozen of them. She said five were founded dead and six remained missing.

Another regional officer, Marvin Guiang, said there was no rain in Tarlac but a downpour in upstream Mount Pinatubo may have swelled the creek while the volunteers were crossing it.

The victims were members of One Peak Event Mountaineers from UP Manila campus.