Typhoon Bopha kills at least 52 in Philippines
Thousands seek refuge as winds of 210km/h cause carnage on island of Mindanao
Typhoon Bopha killed at least 52 people in the Philippines yesterday as the strongest storm to hit the country this year wreaked devastation.
ABS-CBN television said 43 died in one southern town that was in the direct path of Bopha's 210km/h winds soon after it struck land on Mindanao island's east coast at dawn.
"I've counted 43 bodies on the floor," reporter Vina Araneta told the station from a government building that she said had been converted into a temporary mortuary in New Bataan town.
The military said a landslide destroyed a Philippine Army patrol base in a mountainous area of the town, while a local official said an army truck laden with soldiers and civilians was swept away in a flash flood.
Neither the civil defence office in Manila nor the armed forces could give official confirmation of the 43 reported deaths, saying their rescuers were having a hard time reaching the remote town.
Officials said there were nine confirmed deaths, all but one of them occurring on Mindanao island in the country's south. Three of the victims were crushed by falling trees.