Philippines: death toll from flooding, landslides on the rise

Flooding in Philippines (Photo: AFP)

Hanoi (VNA) – One person died, and three others were missing in a landslide in the southern Philippines, police said on December 29, taking the nationwide death toll from recent rains to at least 33.

Authorities are still searching for more than two dozen people missing after heavy downpours over the weekend caused flooding and landslides across central and southern regions.

The latest death was reported on December 28 in Mati city in the province of Davao Oriental on Mindanao island when a landslide buried four people as they fished, police said.

The body of a 62-year-old man was recovered and the search for his companions was still under way, the city’s police chief Ernesto Gregore stated.

Hundreds of houses have been destroyed and more than 5,000 hectares of crops wiped out by rains that have forced tens of thousands of people into evacuation centres./.

VNA