|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 24 December 2003 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Thrity two rescued, over 300 dead or missing in Philippines disasters MANILA, Tuesday (AFP) Thirty-two people have been rescued at sea amid a spate of bad weather across much of the Philippines, where landslides, floods and maritime accidents left more than 300 others dead or missing, officials said Tuesday. In the bleakest Christmas season in the mainly Roman Catholic nation for nearly a generation, rescuers clawed at the mud to unearth landslide victims in the central island of Panaon and patrolled choppy seas elsewhere to look for survivors from three other accidents. The Navy broke the first bit of good news Tuesday after a Malaysian cargo ship rescued 20 passengers and crew of the 63-ton Filipino ferry Piary, which sunk in stormy seas off the western island of Palawan on Sunday. Fifty-five other people remain missing in the area, Navy spokesman Commodore Gerry Malabanan said. A two-day sea and air search of the area by the Philippine Navy and the coastguard had failed to turn up any survivors, he added. Twelve crew members from two fishing boats were meanwhile rescued off the island of Polillo, east of Manila, while at least five crew members of three other fishing vessels in the area are still missing since Saturday, the civil defense office here said. Turbulent northeasterly winds brought heavy rain across much of the central and southern Philippines over the past week, unleashing a series of disasters as the Southeast Asian nation prepared to celebrate Christmas. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
