Philippines typhoon death toll 'likely to hit 1,500'
December 22, 2012 15:09
The death toll from a typhoon that devastated the Philippines earlier this month will likely hit 1,500, making it the second deadliest since the country began keeping records, the civil defence chief said today.
Benito Ramos said that so far they had counted 1,067 dead with more than 800 still missing after Tyhoon Bopha hit the southern island of Mindanao on December 4.
"It (the death toll) will go higher. But let us not assume the missing are already dead," he told AFP, estimating fatalities at "about 1,500" but adding that the search for the missing continued.
The toll from Typhoon Bopha is expected to easily exceed the 1,268 confirmed dead after Typhoon Washi struck the southern Philippines in December 2011, he said. If the toll reaches 1,500 it would make it the second deadliest storm to hit the Philippines since 1947, when the Philippines began keeping records a year after independence.
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