Taiwan scrambles to rescue people in landslide villages

Taiwan yesterday began airlifting out nearly 1,000 people found alive in a cluster of villages flattened by muddy landslides, as survivors recounted the horror of watching their homes vanish.

The island-wide death toll from Typhoon Morakot hit 67 following Taiwan's worst flooding in half a century over the weekend, with entire villages submerged in water and mud.

Eye-witness accounts emerged of the devastation wrought on one of the three villages in southern Taiwan, Hsiaolin, as survivors were ferried out by helicopter.

"I saw the mountain crumbling in seconds almost like an explosion and bury half of our neighbourhood," said Huang Chin-bao, 56.

Mr Huang said he and 40 neighbours were guided by his two dogs to higher ground. "The dogs are our saviours," he said.

Feelings were running high at a school outside the disaster zone where relatives of the missing had gathered. Police and soldiers had to push back some who tried to storm their way onto helicopters heading to the zone.

"I cannot wait any more. I want to look for my family," a man in his 40s shouted as he argued with soldiers.

He said he had not heard anything from his family since the typhoon dumped a record three metres of rainfall on southern Taiwan over the weekend.

As the military rescue operation stepped up, Major-General Richard Hu said: "We have found around 700 people alive in three villages last night and 26 more this morning. We are deploying 25 helicopters to evacuate them."

Marines found some 250 villagers later yesterday before heavy rain temporarily halted the airlift, the military said, adding 192 people had so far been ferried to safety.

Major-General Hu said he was unable to confirm how many people had been buried or killed by the landslide in Hsiaolin and in the two other remote villages in Kaohsiung county.