Hurricane death toll hits 130

The number of people killed when Hurricane Felix tore into the border area between Nicaragua and Honduras this week has jumped to at least 130, a Nicaraguan rescue official said yesterday.

"We have around 130 corpses listed," civil defence official Fabio Benedic said. The dead were mainly Nicaraguan Miskito Indians, including some fishermen whose bodies washed up in Honduras.

Mr Benedic said around 70 people were believed missing after high waves drowned fishermen, battered coastal villages and devastated islets known as the Miskito Keys.

Hundreds of people did not evacuate before the storm and had only their flimsy wooden shacks for shelter. Some tied themselves to trees or boats in a bid to withstand Felix's 256 kph winds, local fisherman said.