The cyclone that lashed northern Madagascar early this month claimed 237 lives and 181 people are still unaccounted for, the national rescue service on the Indian Ocean island said on Tuesday, issuing a new toll.
An earlier toll put the number of dead at 198, with 166 missing.
More than 304 000 people were left homeless by the storm, the rescue service said. That figure was also significantly higher than the previous tally, which put the number made homeless at 216 000.
The death toll has risen as rescue services made their way to isolated villages in the north and west of the island state, many of which are only accessible on foot, rescuers said.
Most of those missing were on two boats, a ferry from the Comoro Islands with 120 people on board and a fishing trawler with a crew of 15 that sank in the storm. Only 25 bodies have been found from both vessels.
”We are still searching for missing people,” said Farah Rasoarimamonjy, a spokesperson for the national rescue service.
Rescuers still have not managed to reach some parts of Madagascar hit by the cyclone, according to Rasoarimamonjy.
France and South Africa have sent military teams to the most isolated parts of the country to help with relief efforts.
Gafilo ripped across northern Madagascar the weekend of March 7, its winds of up to 180kph devastating the northeast, where one of the island’s main cash crops, vanilla, is grown.
The United Nations has made an urgent appeal for international aid for Madagascar, with the representative of the UN’s World Food Programme in Madagascar, Bodo Henze, calling two weeks ago for ”$8,9-million immediately for three months’ aid”.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said an estimated 700 000 people were affected by the storm, with 280 000 of them needing emergency aid. — Sapa-AFP