Extra coffins shipped out

Extra coffins shipped out


BAGUIO (Philippines) - AUTHORITIES sent more than 200 coffins Monday to the typhoon-battered northern Philippines for the grim task of burying the storm's victims, including a family of eight whose house was buried under a torrent of mud.
The nationwide death toll from landslides and flooding stood at more than 600 since back-to-back storms started pounding the northern Philippines on Sept 26.

Hundreds of thousands are still displaced, and the damage from the worst flooding in 40 years has run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

The death toll was so high that some areas ran out of coffins. More than 200 wooden caskets assembled in neighboring provinces were expected in Baguio, where more funerals were planned, said regional disaster-relief director Olive Luces.

Baguio city, in the heart of the Cordillera mountain range where at least 277 people died, organized a burial for a family of eight, including six children, whose house along Marcos Highway was pinned down by other houses that tumbled down a mountainside late Thursday.

Flooding and mudslides had blocked three key roads to the area, isolating the upland region for three days. Many international tourists were among those stranded. Gasoline was still in short supply and panic buying of canned goods emptied several stores in Baguio city. -- AP