Typhoon kills 66 in Japan

Japan's deadliest typhoon in more than two decades killed 66 people, news reports said yesterday as rescuers searched frantically for 22 still missing in floods and landslides.

Many people died in landslides set off by the heavy rains from Typhoon Tokage that pounded much of Japan on Wednesday. Others died in flooding or were swept away by massive waves which lashed the coast.

Others who were saved from flooding by rescue workers in helicopters and rubber rafts were left shaken by the experience.

"I thought I wouldn't make it. I should have evacuated earlier," a woman told public broadcaster NHK after being rescued in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan.

Tokage, which means lizard in Japanese, moved out into the Pacific early yesterday and was downgraded to a tropical depression soon after. It was a record 10th typhoon to hit Japan this year.

Kyodo news agency said at least 66 were killed and 22 were missing due to the typhoon, while the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 59 were killed and 22 missing.

According to the Meteorological Agency, the number of people killed or unaccounted for was the highest for a single typhoon since 95 died or went missing from a 1982 storm.

A total of 167 people, including 102 trainees aged around 20, were rescued from their ship, the 2,556-tonne Kaio Maru, which ran aground in Toyama, 255 km west of Tokyo. Sixteen of them suffered injuries such as broken wrists.

Among the dead were three people killed when high waves battered through a concrete breakwater and smashed into their home in Kochi, on Shikoku island in western Japan.

NHK said a wave measuring 17.79 metres - as tall as a six-storey building - pounded the city's shoreline on Wednesday afternoon just before waves hit residential homes.