Asia

Home page

Asia

Taiwan searchers seek typhoon victims

26 October 2010 03:57 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Searchers scoured a coastal area of Taiwan Monday for 21 Chinese tourists whose bus is thought to have been swept off a road by last week’s devastating typhoon, APA reports quoting â€œCBC Newsâ€.
Rescuers say they have spotted one body, some body parts and debris from the bus at the bottom of a rocky slope.
Taiwanese authorities are facing criticism for failing to close a narrow road that hugs the northeastern coast of the island. The road is known to be especially vulnerable to mudslides during heavy rains.
In China, relatives of the missing tourists say proper precautions were not taken.
Mudslides in other sections of the coastal road stranded 400 people.
Typhoon Megi swept across east Asia last week, lashing several countries with high winds and drenching parts of Taiwan with as much as 114 centimetres of rain.
Megi killed at least 12 people in Taiwan and 28 in the Philippines. It was the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines in four years.
In China, Megi dumped as much as 33 centimetres of rain on coastal villages in Fujian province, causing extensive damage to fishing boats and shellfish beds.