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.