Tokyo: The death toll from catastrophic landslides in western Japan could more than double, police said on Friday, as the number of missing people rose to 52 in addition to the 39 confirmed dead.
Dozens of homes were destroyed when mountainsides collapsed on the outskirts of Hiroshima on Wednesday, sending tonnes of mud, rocks and debris crashing into suburban communities.
More than 4,000 people have now been ordered to evacuate their homes after forecasters warned more rain was on the way to already soaked hillsides, heaping misery on an area that has seen record downpours.
Firefighters, police and soldiers had to abandon search efforts overnight because of the risk of further landfalls, wary of the death of a colleague killed in a secondary mudslide on Wednesday along with a small boy he was trying to carry to safety.
The confirmed death toll remained unchanged on Friday at 39, but the number of missing was raised to 52, having risen steadily over the last two days from initial single figures.
30 killed, 41 injured as two buses collide
Cairo: At least 30 passengers were killed and 41 others seriously injured on Friday when two tourist buses collided on a highway near Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
Thirty people were killed in the accident 50 km near Sharm el-Sheikh.
The toll could increase, said Mohamed Lashin, Health Ministry Undersecretary in South Sinai. “Still there is a number of bodies and injured people under the two buses,” said Lashin. The victims are of different nationalities, he said.
Egypt has one of the world’s highest traffic accident rates due to careless driving, road and vehicle conditions which leads to death and injury of thousands every year.
A recent report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said there were 15,578 car accidents in Egypt in 2013, up 0.4 per cent from the year before, which claimed the lives of 6,716 people and injured 22,411 others. (PTI)
