More then 400 people have been killed and hundreds more were missing after a typhoon
hit the southern Philippines, National Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang
said on Saturday. She said in a text message to Reuters that the death toll of 426
was expected to rise due to flash floods and landslides that forced tens of thousands
to flee from their homes.
"The death toll might still rise because there are
still a lot of missing people," said Pang, adding that the hardest-hit areas were
in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. Almost 400 people were unaccounted for,
most of them from a coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by floodwaters
while people were sleeping inside late on Friday.