Rescuers search for tidal wave victims

Rescuers search for tidal wave victims

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (DPA): Navy and civilian rescuers
frantically searched on Sunday for 12 people missing after tidal
waves battered coastal villages in the southern Philippines,
killing at least six.

Abdurahman Jamasali, interior secretary of the Autonomous
Region of Moslem Mindanao, said the 12 people, mostly fishermen,
have been missing since last Wednesday when tidal waves as high
as 7 metres pounded the remote town of Sitangkai, Tawi-tawi
province.

Tawi-tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali said hundreds of villagers
were homeless after the waves washed away their houses built on
wooden stilts. Most of the casualties had been in their homes
when the waves struck, he added.

The waves also damaged millions of pesos worth of seaweed and
aqua-culture farms in Sitangkai, situated near the eastern
Malaysian state of Sabah.