SECTION:news

Rescuers enter area ravaged by cyclones

The Associated Press

KARACHI, Pakistan -- Pakistan sent navy rescue ships with medical teams and divers to search for hundreds of people missing Friday after a deadly cyclone wiped out hundreds of villages on the Arabian Sea coast. Government officials said 700 people were missing and feared drowned following Thursday's cyclone, which hit landfall with a roar, packing winds of 170 mph and causing tidal waves that submerged hundreds of small fishing villages about 40 miles east of the port city of Karachi. Residents from the area, many of whom spent the night outside in knee-deep water and mud, said the death toll could be much higher. Some said as many as 3,500 people are missing. But rescue workers were having difficulty reaching the cyclone-hit villages because roads leading to the area still were underwater, said residents in nearby villages that had escaped the cyclone. At least 100 fishermen were caught out on their boats when the cyclone hit, they said. Pakistan navy divers will search for bodies, officials said in a statement. The navy also is setting up five emergency relief camps to treat victims, many of whom are believed to be suffering from exposure. Shortages of clean water and food also were expected. A navy representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said four people who spent the night in water were rescued by helicopter. Three hundred soldiers also were deployed to the area. Karachi, the country's largest city with 14 million people, experienced high winds but was spared the brunt of the cyclone when it changed directions and hit land east of the city. Bedraggled residents from the coastal villages reached higher ground early Friday after spending the night searching for shelter from the lashing rains that delayed rescue efforts. "People from the area are arriving and it sounds like the damage is tremendous," said Dr. Mumtaz Uqali, who was interviewed by telephone early Friday from the cyclone-damaged area of Thatta, 50 miles from Karachi. "People are saying entire villages are missing, but the district administration is still trying to get there so no one really knows," he said. The rescuers' first priority will be to locate the missing and assess the damage, said an army spokesman on condition of anonymity. A privately run emergency services company, Edhi Emergency Services, sent a helicopter to the area to try to assess the damage. Army and aid workers said it still was too early to tell whether the missing had sought shelter elsewhere or had drowned. Many are presumed dead. In Keti Bander, a fishing village that was battered by the cyclone, many mud homes were pulverized and residents clung to each other amid a mess of debris and water. Damage in many villages was extensive because the homes are made of flimsy materials like mud and straw. Residents of nearby undamaged villages arrived with rice and bread to feed the victims. Communications to much of the area have been completely cut off and telephone lines were down, officials said.

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