MANILA (AFP) — The death toll from Typhoon Mitag rose to 17 in the Philippines, officials said Tuesday, as search operations continued for a missing air force jet and a fishing vessel with 27 people aboard.
The typhoon killed 17 people and left four others missing, the civil defence office said.
The number of people displaced also jumped to 540,000 across 19 provinces ravaged by flash floods and landslides triggered by the typhoon.
Mitag has weakened as it exited the Philippines towards the southern islands of Japan.
Tropical storm Hagibis meanwhile weakened to tropical depression status as it crossed Mindoro island towards southern Luzon in the afternoon, while a second tropical depression with similar 55 kilometre (34 mile) per hour winds threatened from the Pacific Ocean.
Hagibis killed 13 people last week in its initial pass over the Philippines.
It reversed course Monday, sinking a fishing boat near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, leaving 27 Filipino crewmen missing, officials said.
A Philippine air force jet sent to search for the crew also went missing in the area on Monday, the military said.
The air force said it was searching for the S-211 reconnaissance jet and its two pilots in the Spratlys.
Armed forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon said the aircraft probably crashed in the South China Sea. The US Navy has dispatched an Orion surveillance aircraft to help in the search, he added.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
