130 die in S. Philippine floods

DAVAO CITY. December 17. KAZINFORM The death toll due to widespread flooding and mudslide caused by typhoon Washin ( local name Sendong) has reached 130, and almost 200 are still missing, military and local officials said on Saturday; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

At least 95 bodies were recovered in the badly-hit northern city of Cagayan de Oro as of 1 p.m. Saturday and 125 are still missing, according to Colonel Leopoldo Galon, spokesperson of the military's Eastern Mindanao Command.

Search and rescue operations continued and air assets from the Philippine Air Force were being utilized to help police and rescue volunteers scour for more survivors in the flood-soaked 23 villages of Cagayan de Oro, Galon told Xinhua.

In nearby Iligan City, at least 40 people were drowned and scores others remained missing, local officals said.

Elsewhere, the rest of the southern Philippines was not spared as the storm, packing winds of up to 90 kilometers per hour, hit land in the eastern Mindanao province of Davao Oriental late Friday afternoon.

In the landslide-prone Compostela Valley province in Davao region, a person was reported missing while over 130 families fled their homes due to flooding and landslide in gold-rich Mt. Diwalwal, in Monkayo town, local army commander Cesar Molina said; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

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