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MANILA: Some 598 people are dead or missing after Typhoon Fengshen roared through the Philippines, the Red Cross and civil defence said Monday, dramatically raising the number unaccounted for.
Landslides, severe flooding and the loss of dozens of fishing boats had left at least 224 dead and 374 missing, they said, mostly in central areas which bore the brunt of the storm.
The figures, up from just six confirmed missing on Sunday while the death toll has been slightly lowered, do not include passengers and crew from a ferry which sank carrying 747 people. So far, only 32 survivors have been found.
More than 200 people were still missing in the central island of Negros, while 63,000 people are still in evacuation centres after flash floods and landslides forced them to flee their homes, the civil defence agency said.
Flooding had not yet receded in many parts of Bulacan province, just outside the capital of Manila, it added.
Power was fully restored in Manila but had not yet returned in some areas outside the capital where lines had been toppled.
Typhoon Fengshen slammed into the central Philippines late Saturday before changing course and moving north across much of the archipelago.
It left through the northwestern side of the main island of Luzon before dawn Monday, moving northwest at 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) per hour towards southern China, the government weather station said.
As of 10:00 am (0200 GMT) Monday, the typhoon was charted 300 kilometres northwest of the country, packing maximum winds of 110 kilometres near the centre. - AFP/ac
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