Philippine typhoon death toll 'now 600'

Philippine typhoon death toll 'now 600'

FILIPINO rescuers shoveled away boulders and mud yesterday to recover bodies from mudslides that smothered mountainside villages, as officials feared the death toll from a powerful typhoon could double to 600.

Seas of thick black mud made the going tough for rescue workers, who were not believed to have pulled any survivors from the debris since the first hours after Typhoon Durian blasted ashore on Thursday with winds of up to 165mph.

The death toll surpassed 300. Another 300 are missing and the prospects of finding any of them alive are dwindling fast. The first funerals took place last night as bodies rapidly decomposed in the tropical heat.

The Disaster Coordinating Council of the worst-hit Albay province reported 236 dead, including 129 in the town of Guinobatan in the Mayon volcano's foothills, which was swamped by floods. Three towns on Mayon's slopes, overwhelmed by mudslides of volcanic ash and boulders, each reported at least 22 dead.

Four other provinces reported fatalities, but accurate figures were hard to come by because of damaged power and phone lines. In some places, rescue workers found only body parts.

"We need food, tents, water, body bags," said Philippine National Red Cross official Andrew Nocon.

Houses along the Yawa River in Padang, seven miles from Legazpi, the capital of Albay province, were buried under five feet of mud, with only roofs protruding.

In Padang village, 28 bodies were recovered and photographed for identification by relatives, said Luis Bello, the mayor's aide. Some had been washed out to sea, then swept by currents to the shores of an adjacent town.

Silangan Santander, 21, attended funeral services for her brother, Larry. Only his lower torso and legs were found near the sea.

His widow is five months pregnant and, according to local beliefs, it would be bad for her to witness the burial, so she watched from the cemetery's perimeter wall.

"Where my brother lived, all the houses were gone," she said, adding that another brother was missing. "There are only rocks, sand and water."

The sounds of boulders and rocks crashing down Mayon's slopes "were like thunder, and the ground shook," she said. "We thought it would be our end. We could not think of anything else."

Electricity pylons were toppled, and a two-lane highway was scattered with overturned trucks. Mayon erupted in July and has been rumbling since then. Rains from succeeding typhoons may have loosened the materials, officials said.