Djibouti rain toll rises to 46
2004-04-14 14:16
Djibouti - Forty-six people drowned amid torrential rains in the capital of Djibouti on Monday night, Interior Minister Abdoulkader Doualeh said Wednesday, updating a previous death toll of 30.
The bodies of all the victims were recovered in the city of Djibouti.
"Seven bodies washed away and buried in mud were found on Wednesday morning, while 39 had been found by Tuesday evening," the minister told reporters.
Monday night's downpour was the heaviest in 10 years in this tiny country in the Horn of Africa.
The storm cut electricity supplies and washed away parts of a railway line to neighbouring Ethiopia.
French and US forces based in Djibouti - a former French colony that is now home to France's largest overseas military base - used helicopters to rescue people stranded on rooftops.
- AFP