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Stricken villagers airlifted in Taiwan

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-12 13:04

Rescuers carry a man in Chishan, Kaohsiung county, after he was evacuated by a helicopter from a landslide-affected village in southern Taiwan following Typhoon Morakot August 11, 2009. [Agencies]

Helicopters ferried stricken villagers to safety Tuesday from remote communities in Taiwan hit by Typhoon Morakot that left at least 62 people dead, but hundreds were still feared trapped by a torrent of mud and rock that buried their homes.

Choppers hovered over affected villages looking for signs of life. While rains were still falling, floodwaters receded Tuesday, and many of the aircraft were landing to send out squads of rescuers to look for survivors.

One helicopter crashed into a mountain as it flew on a mission to rescue villagers from the island's heavily wooded south, which was worst hit by the storm. Disaster official Chen Chung-hsien said it was unclear if the two pilots and one technician had survived the crash.

Morakot, which means "emerald" in Thai language, dumped as much as 80 inches (two meters) of rain over the weekend on Taiwan, the worst flooding in 50 years.

It then moved on to the mainland, where officials evacuated 1.5 million people and some 10,000 homes were destroyed. Eight people have died in three provinces on the mainland, the Civil Affairs Ministry said.

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