Kingdom loses three to typhoon

Photo by: BLOOMBERG
Flooding caused by typhoon Morakot devastated Taiwan last month

The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 11 September 2009 15:02 Kim Yuthana

Three Cambodians among the 192 still missing from Typhoon Morakot.

THREE Cambodians are missing and feared dead after Typhoon Morakot tore through Taiwan last month, an NGO has confirmed.

Khat Srey Mach, 33, Kong Srey Mom, 32, and Mol Khmao, 29, have been missing since Morakot, one of the deadliest typhoons to hit Taiwan in recorded history, hit the island and prompted the worst flooding in 50 years.

More than 600 people died, according to the press agency AFP. They were believed killed by floodwaters and mudslides.

Forty-six were injured, and 192 people, including the three Cambodians, are still missing. In one incident, an entire hotel, empty at the time, was swept away by the waters, the BBC reported.

Ya Navuth, executive director of Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (CARAM) Cambodia, told the Post on Thursday that he had been made aware of the Cambodians' plight by officials at Taipei's Economic and Cultural Office in Ho Chi Minh City but had yet to make contact with their relatives. "We have not heard anything from the victims' families so far after announcing their disappearance," he said. The Cambodian consulate in Vietnam has also been informed.

Typhoon Morakot formed early on August 2 as an unnamed tropical depression. Within hours, it was upgraded to a tropical storm and assigned the name Morakot by the Japan Meteorological Agency. At its peak, Morakot's winds reached speeds of more than 150 km/h. It wrought catastrophic damage in Taiwan, prompting Prime Minister Liu Chao-shiuan to resign earlier this week.