88 people killed as storm 'Greg' hits Sabah state
88 people killed as storm 'Greg' hits Sabah state
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (Reuter): A tropical storm ripped down houses and thatched huts in eastern Malaysia on Christmas day killing almost 100 people and leaving as many missing, police said yesterday.
Rescue workers had recovered 88 bodies from the debris or from swollen rivers after the storm blew ashore on the state of Sabah from the South China Sea, police said.
The death toll was likely to rise, they added.
Tropical storm Greg hit land at more than 50 kph (30 mph) and cut its path of destruction over several hours on Christmas night before heading south.
National television coverage of the disaster showed fallen trees, collapsed and roofless houses and capsized boats.
The worst hit area was Keningau, 150 km (95 miles) south of Sabah's capital Kota Kinabalu, where 78 bodies were found floating in rivers or buried under debris.
The national Bernama news agency said about 500 homes in nine villages in Keningau had been swept away by floods. It said buildings in Kota Kinabalu were also damaged.
Sabah is a popular holiday destination but officials said Keningau, a logging town of 60,000, was not a regular tourist haunt.
Findings
They said "initial findings" showed no foreigners among the dead.
"The death toll we have for now is 88 and it could be higher," Sabah Police Commissioner Maizan Shaari told reporters.
Maizan also revised the number of those missing to "more than 100" after police gave the specific figure of 172 earlier in the day.
He said all communications and road access between Kota Kinabalu and Keningau, hidden under thick forest cover and nestled between mountains, had been cut. Only aerial inspections were possible.
Sabah Chief Minister Yong Teck Lee made an aerial inspection of the damage in Kota Kinabalu yesterday and described the storm as one of the worst disasters ever to hit the state.
Bernama quoted Mohamad Noor Hammad, head of the rescue operations, as saying that the Special Malaysian Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) was on standby to help in the search.
"We are still trying to assess the situation in the state and whether we would need the services of SMART," he said