MANILA: The death toll from a tropical storm in the southern Philippines climbed swiftly to 133 on Saturday, as rescuers pulled dozens of bodies from a swollen river, police said. Tropical Storm Tembin has lashed the nation’s second largest island of Mindanao since Friday, triggering flash floods and mudslides. Rescuers retrieved 36 bodies from the Salog river in Mindanao on Saturday, as officials reported more fatalities in the impoverished Zamboanga peninsula. Tembin struck less than a week after Tropical Storm Kai-Tak devastated the central Philippines, leaving 54 dead and 24 missing. The deadliest typhoon to hit the country was Haiyan, which left 7,350 people dead and destroyed entire towns in heavily populated areas of the central Philippines in November 2013.

Source: Pakistan Today December 23, 2017 09:00 UTC