Grim hunt for hundreds killed in Philippine typhoon

DARAGA, Philippines, Dec 2 (Reuters) Distraught survivors searched piles of bodies for the faces of their loved ones in the central Philippines today after landslides triggered by Typhoon Durian left hundreds dead.

Durian moved into the South China Sea yesterday after affecting 800,000 people in the Philippines and was expected to weaken into a tropical storm before hitting Vietnam on Monday.

Villages were engulfed on Thursday around Mount Mayon, an active volcano about 320 km south of Manila, when driving rain and winds of up to 225 kph dislodged tonnes of mud and boulders from the slopes.

The governor of Albay province, the worst-hit area, said a wall of water 6 feet high crashed down the volcano.

''We lost everything,'' Fernando Gonzales told Reuters, adding 100 people had been killed by the torrent.

The national disaster agency said a total of 303 people had died in eastern provinces, 285 in Albay alone. At least 293 people were missing.

The toll was rising sharply as rescue workers, some using their bare hands, pulled corpses and body parts from the mud.

''Right now we are on retrieval operations. We do not believe there are any survivors,'' Cedric Daep, head of the provincial disaster coordinating council, told Reuters.

Army commanders asked for dog teams to help with the grim search and sacks of lime to mask the stench of death. With roads blocked, soldiers hiked for hours to get to the disaster area.

''The scene wrenched my heart,'' Colonel Robert Morales said on radio. ''I could see bodies of women and children all over.'' Thousands of survivors crammed into schools and churches as disaster agencies called for fresh water, food and medicine.

Pope Benedict offered prayers for the mainly Roman Catholic country. Canada said it was giving C$1 million ($873,000) to the relief effort and Japan pledged $173,000.

PILES OF CORPSES Nearly 45,000 people were left homeless and entire communities isolated after power lines and phone links were knocked out and bridges washed away. Livelihoods were lost as fruit trees were uprooted and rice paddies destroyed.

In the town of Daraga, bordering Mount Mayon, more than 50 bodies were stacked in front of an overflowing funeral parlour. The undertaker estimated there were around 150 corpses in all.

Photographs of the missing lined the town square. Men and women, many clutching handkerchiefs over their faces, searched for relatives among the dead.

''My siblings, my mother, they are gone. My niece is dead and at the plaza there are so many dead people,'' one woman sobbed.

Villagers around Mayon thought they had escaped catastrophe in September when the volcano subsided after months of spewing lava and rocks, raising fears of a major eruption and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate.

The debris left behind proved deadly when Durian struck.

''I was swept to sea. Big rocks were hitting me,'' Ramon Valderama, who lost his wife and son in the chaos, said on radio.

''I could only cry because I was helpless.'' Named after a pungent Asian fruit, Durian was the fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in three months. Forecasters expect one more before the end of the year.

In September, 213 people were killed when Typhoon Xangsane battered the north and centre of the country, leaving millions without electricity or running water for days.

Xangsane also killed dozens in Vietnam.

REUTERS PDM VV1831