Friday, 2 October 2009

Ketsana death toll rises to 425

Fri Oct 2 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

The death toll from Typhoon Ketsana in Cambodia has risen to at least 17, the country's Red Cross says, bringing the region's total deaths to 425.

Three more people were reported to have been killed after Ketsana swept through the Cambodia earlier this week, said Uy Sam Ath, director of the disaster management department at the Cambodian Red Cross.

The new toll includes a man who died in eastern Mondulkiri province and two people - a father and a daughter - who drowned when their boat capsized on Wednesday evening in central Kampong Chhnang province, he said.

Northern Cambodia suffered widespread flooding after the storm battered the country on Tuesday evening, affecting thousands of people and destroying hundreds of homes across the country, officials said.

Ketsana brought devastation across South-East Asia, killing at least 293 people in the Philippines last weekend before moving on to kill 99 in Vietnam and 16 in Laos.

The Red Cross says 135 people are still missing in Laos.

Fourteen of the deaths in Laos occurred in southern Attapeu province on the border with Cambodia, said Bountheung Menvilay, head of the agency's disaster preparedness division.

Two other deaths came in Savannakhet province but Attapeu and adjacent Sekong provinces were most affected by the storm, which passed through the country on Wednesday, the Red Cross said.

"We do have casualties in that location," said government spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing, who was unable to confirm the number of deaths.

Bountheung said most of the deaths came during flash floods caused by the storm which has displaced 37,500 people in one of Asia's poorest nations.

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