Floods, landslides kill 34 in Philippines

MANILA - At least 34 people were killed and nine were missing in weeks of rains that have triggered floods and landslides in the Philippines, a government agency said Saturday.

The Office of Civil Defence said the latest fatality was a Chinese national who was hit in the head by a rock during a landslide late Friday in Hagonoy town in the eastern province of Camarines Sur, 300 km southeast of Manila.

The victim, identified as Chen Te Hao, was a consultant of a mining firm in the area.

Most of the other deaths were reported in the flooded provinces of Agusan and Surigao.

Navy Lieutenant Darwin Nieva, a regional spokesman for the Civil Defence Office, said among the missing were five fishermen who did not return after going to sea before dawn Thursday in nearby Catanduanes province.

“The fishermen were expected to return home early Friday, but they never came back,” he said.

Nieva said coast guard and navy vessels have started search and rescue operations.

The agency said nearly 900,000 people in 22 provinces were displaced by the bad weather battering the eastern and southern Philippines since Dec 21.

The weather bureau said the rains would continue through the weekend.