Philippines disaster toll tops 300

[senorpepr]

Thirty-two people have been rescued from stormy seas off the Philippines but more 300 others are dead or missing after a spate of landslides, floods and accidents caused by bad weather.

Officials in the Philippines say 32 people have been rescued at sea, as much of the country cleans up after severe storms.

Landslides, floods and maritime accidents have left more than 300 other people dead or missing, as rescuers in the central Philippines dig through mud to unearth landslide victims.

The Philippine navy earlier broke the first bit of good news, announcing a Malaysian cargo ship had rescued 20 passengers and crew of a Philippines-flagged ferry that sunk in stormy seas on Sunday.

A navy spokesman says 55 other people who were on the ferry remain missing.

Meanwhile, 12 crew members from two fishing boats have also been rescued, but at least five crew members are still missing.

Heavy rain across much of the central and southern Philippines has unleashed a series of disasters, with civil defense officials saying the adverse weather has left at least 303 people dead or missing.

In the bleakest Christmas season for nearly a generation in the mainly Roman Catholic nation, rescuers dug for landslide victims in one central island and searched choppy seas for survivors from three lost vessels.

A Malaysian cargo ship rescued 20 people from the ferry Piary which sank in stormy seas off the western island of Palawan on Sunday.

Fifty-five others were missing despite a two-day search by air and water in heaving seas, officials said.
"We assume that the vessel sank," coastguard chief Armando Gosingan said.
Another 12 people, all crew from two fishing boats, were rescued off the island of Polillo, east of Manila, the civil defense office said.

At least five crew members of three other fishing vessels in the area have been missing since Saturday.
The civil defense office said landslides, floods and sea mishaps left at least 303 people dead or missing, many of them from the tiny central island of Panaon.

Huge waves prevented rescuers and supplies from getting to Panaon, where one of four towns reported 105 dead as of Monday night, provincial vice governor Eva Tumol said.

The authorities have not heard from seven villages in Panaon, which was hit by massive landslides and at least one tornado on Friday night, Ms Tumol said.

"They (residents) are totally cut off from the supply of food, water and everything. The problem now is how to evacuate them," Ms Tumol told local radio.

Aides said President Gloria Arroyo and the US ambassador to Manila, Francis Ricciardone, visited Panaon by helicopter on Tuesday, but no details of the visit were immediately available.