Philippine rescuers have recovered 753 bodies following this week’s storms in the northeast of the country, and 345 people are still missing, a military spokesman said Friday.
The latest casualties were caused by Typhoon Nanmadol which passed through the northeast on Thursday. The civil defence office in Manila said the typhoon killed 35 people and left 13 others missing.
Most of the casualties were caused by a tropical storm which swept through the northeastern coast of the main Philippine island of Luzon on Monday.
At least 688 bodies have been found in the towns of Real, Infanta and General Nakar, Colonel Jaime Buenaflor, the commander of military forces involved in the rescue attempts, said.
He said at least 330 other residents in the three towns were listed as missing.
The civil defence office said at least 30 people had been killed in other parts of the Philippines by Monday’s storm.
Meanwhile, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4,2 rocked the northern Philippines on Friday. No casualties or damage were reported.
The earthquake was centered about 120km southwest of Manila, near Batangas city, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
The Philippines is along the so-called Pacific ”Ring of Fire,” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.
A magnitude 7,7 earthquake in 1990 killed nearly 2 000 people on Luzon. -Sapa-AFP