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LABUTTA - An estimated 80,000 people have died in the remote Myanmar district of Labutta since a powerful cyclone struck last weekend, a local military official told AFP on Thursday.
Labutta sits in the Irrawaddy delta, which bore the brunt of the storm's fury when it struck overnight Friday.
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Dozens of the 63 villages surrounding the town of Labutta have been wiped out, said Tin Win, leader of a ward within the town.
"So far the estimated death toll in those villages is about 80,000," he told AFP.
National officials could not be reached to confirm the number, but official state media in this tightly-controlled country have put the number of dead and missing at more than 60,000.
Shari Villarosa, US charge d'affaires in Yangon, said there could be more than 100,000 dead in the Irrawaddy delta region where 95 percent of buildings were reported to have disappeared. - AFP/vm
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