Typhoon toll rises in Philippines and Vietnam

DANANG, Vietnam, Oct 3 (Reuters) Typhoon Xangsane killed at least 120 people in the Philippines and Vietnam and left tens of thousands homeless, officials said today.

The typhoon swept fierce winds and rain into Vietnam's central coast at the weekend after leaving a trail of destruction in the northern and central Philippines, including the capital, Manila.

Vietnam officials said at least 42 died in several central provinces and the resort city of Danang, Vietnam's fourth largest city of about 1 million, which took the brunt of the typhoon when it hit on Sunday.

''The death toll is not completed yet as we are still receiving casualty reports from districts and communes in the provinces,'' said an official at the Danang Flood and Storm Control Committee.

She said 24 people had died in Danang. A city health official was quoted in state-run media as saying more than 1,000 residents had been hospitalised.

Homes collapsed and roofs were ripped off in Danang and the nearby ancient town of Hoi An.

Typhoon Xangsane, which means ''elephant'' in the Lao language, killed 78 people and injured 81 in the Philippines, disaster officials said on Tuesday. Another 69 people were missing after the typhoon ripped through the archipelago last week.

A police spokesman said the toll could climb close to 150.

The storm weakened after landing in Vietnam and moved westward across Laos and into Thailand.

Many of an estimated 300,000 people who were evacuated in Vietnam's central coastal provinces to safer locations before the typhoon struck returned to find their houses had been destroyed.

The official Vietnam News Agency said tens of thousands were left homeless and that the storm caused millions of dollars in damage.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are killed and their property and crops damaged each year by tropical storms in the two Southeast Asian countries, which are separated by the South China Sea.

Another tropical storm, with maximum winds of 85 kph (52 mph) and gusts of up to 100 kph, was moving towards the northern tip of the Philippines, weather forecasters said. The storm was expected to be around 190 km east northeast of the archipelago on Friday.

REUTERS AKJ KP1340