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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Typhoon death toll reaches 229 in Philippines |
| 2008-06-23 |
| (Xinhua) -- The past weekend marked one of the darkest dates in the Philippines' natural disaster-battering history, with reports of floods, landslides, flooded streets and a sunken ship with over 700 passengers on board. The country's Red Cross and disaster relief authorities on Sunday night announced that at least 229 people have been killed, 700 others missing as typhoon "Fengshen" ripped through the archipelago since Friday afternoon. More people, officials said, are feared dead as the hope of survival is fading for the 700 people on ferry "M/V Princess of the Star" which completely sank off the coasts of central Philippine province of Romblon on Sunday. So far, only four survivors have reached shores and the rest are "still unaccounted for," Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Armand Balilo said. The 23,000-ton ship of the Sulpicio Lines, carrying more than 700 people on board, left Manila for central Philippine hub of Cebu on Friday. It met rough weather at sea on Saturday noon before the caption ordered to abandon the ship, whose engine had been seriously damaged in high waves and strong winds. PCG rescuers reaching the scene on Sunday reported that they had failed to "see any survivors or bodies around the upturned ship, or even any life jackets or other flotation devices," the national news network INQUIRER.NET reported. "The rescuers will also be scouring the other coastal areas to check for the passengers," PCG Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo told INQUIRER.NET. "I hope and I pray that many are alright," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |