The death toll from Typhoon Utor's devastating sweep across the South China Sea rose to at least 78 yesterday as one of the worst storms in the region in 20 years began to fizzle out as it hit land in China.
Authorities in southern China said at least three people were killed, despite the typhoon being downgraded to a severe tropical storm after it made landfall near Shanwei, about 110km northeast of Hong Kong.
PHOTO: AFP
The toll of death and destruction caused by the typhoon when it was at its peak earlier this week continued to mount.
At least 74 people were killed in the Philippines, with another 49 still missing and 130 injured, rescuers said.
More than 300,000 people have been displaced on the main island of Luzon as a result of flooding caused by pounding rains.
The typhoon also killed one person in Taiwan. Seven fishermen aboard a Taiwanese-registered vessel were found safely off the Philippines' coast.
In China's southern province of Guangdong, two people died and four were injured in Shantou, while economic losses reached 692 million yuan (US$83 million), local government officials said.
One of the fatalities, Zheng Weiquan, was working on typhoon defenses when he was hit by falling metal roofing. He later died in hospital.
Shantou's other fatality, a 37-year-old woman identified as Jiang Peizhen, was killed by electric shock.
An official at Jieyang city's civil affairs bureau said one person died and 350 were injured in the typhoon, while economic losses amounted to 600 million yuan.
Only two flights were delayed at Guangzhou airport. Shantou airport was closed early in the morning but later reopened.
Fears of a direct hit on Hong Kong proved unfounded but the territory was still lashed by torrential rain and high winds. Schools and offices were shut and trading on the stock exchange cancelled.
Flights out of the city were severely disrupted with more than 22 delayed in the morning alone, adding to the misery of hundreds of passengers who were trapped overnight as a result of flights being cancelled on Thursday.
In the Philippines, 59 people were killed in the northern mountain city of Baguio and nearby provinces, with most falling victim to landslides.
There were 14 other deaths in the northern provinces of Pangasinan and Cagayan, and one in the central island of Panay, according to civil defense office and coast guard tallies.
Some road links to Baguio, which had been isolated by landslides, had been restored, but a number of roads in the northern Philippines were still impassable. Initial damage to infrastructure and agriculture was estimated at 105 million pesos (US$1.9 million), the civil defense office said.
In Vietnam, the official death toll as a result of the rain which has followed last weekend's Typhoon Durian, rose to 29 yesterday.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from