Budapest starts clean-up after storm, toll rises

BUDAPEST, Aug 21 (Reuters) Three people died and 38 were seriously hurt when a storm hit Budapest as hundreds of thousands of people watched a fireworks display to mark Hungary's national day, an ambulance spokeswoman said today.

Yesterday's sudden storm, which prompted panic and made several river boats collide and one sink, caused 104 injuries, 38 of them serious as heavy trees fell on some spectators, she said.

One of the dead was a 12-year-old girl and there were still two more people missing from the sunken boat, state news agency MTI reported.

The wreckage and trees lying on the roads caused serious disruptions to traffic today and fire brigades were working to clean up the city.

Unconfirmed reports put the total number of injured at around 240, and MTI quoted a disaster management spokesman saying the high number of people who got to hospitals on foot or in their cars would add to the ambulance service's casualty numbers.

The damage was mostly confined to the capital and to Pest county which surrounds it, an emergency service spokesman told Reuters.

Police were also still searching for unexploded fireworks which drifted in the fierce wind which hit the capital just minutes after the fireworks display started.

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany ordered an immediate investigation into the tragedy and was expected to make a statement later today.

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