Tropical storm kills 276

2005-10-08 09:08

Guatemala City - Devastating Tropical Storm Stan has killed at least 278 people in Central America and Mexico after lashing the region for days with relentless rain, authorities said on Friday.

Officials feared the toll could rise as emergency workers tried to reach communities cut off by flooded rivers or swept away by massive mudslides.

The death toll in hardest-hit Guatemala surged to 176 on Friday when rescuers discovered 36 bodies in Solola Department west of the capital, President Oscar Berger said. Hundreds of Guatemalans are missing, he said.

The storm has also killed 67 in El Salvador, 11 in Nicaragua and 24 in Mexico, authorities in those countries said. Tens of thousands were left homeless across the region.

Stan slammed ashore as a hurricane in Mexico's state of Veracruz early on Tuesday, but began pounding northern Central America with rain on October 1. Rain was still falling late on Friday in southern Mexico and parts of Guatemala.

Berger warned Guatemalans to prepare for greater losses. "We are going to have unpleasant surprises. There are many missing, many landslides, towns cut off," he said.

Rescue efforts continued at a snail's pace with four out of five roads impassable and scant equipment to conduct searches by air in the impoverished country.

Six helicopters lent by the United States along with two from Mexico and one from Honduras took to the skies during daylight hours on Friday but progress was slowed by the rains.

One of the worst hit areas was Lake Atitlan, a mountain-ringed lake west of Guatemala City popular with European and American tourists.

On Wednesday, 55 people were killed outright and dozens went missing when a mudslide swept through the village of Santiago Atitlan about 180km west of the capital.

The Mexican Navy rescued 44 Guatemalans trapped in the village of Malacatan, just across the border from Mexico, Mexican President Vicente Fox said on Friday.

The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has been one of the deadliest and most active on record. Stan was the 10th Atlantic hurricane this year.

Hurricane Katrina, which slammed the US Gulf of Mexico coast August 29, ravaged New Orleans and coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, killing more than 1 200 people and becoming the deadliest storm to hit the United States since 1928.

- AFP