Heavy rains kill 17 in Tunisia

Heavy rains and flash floods have killed 17 people in a semi-arid region of southern Tunisia, the country's state news agency TAP said yesterday.

Witnesses said many of the dead were killed when the roofs and walls of their homes collapsed. Others were carried away by flood waters that rose to more than two metres in some areas.

September is normally a dry month in Tunisia but heavy rains have fallen for days across the north African country and in neighbouring Algeria, where 16 people have been killed in the past week, according to media reports.

Khamsa Ben Othman from the Tunisian town of Redeyef said six members of her extended family had died, including two babies.

"What we saw was horrible," she said. "People have been surrounded by the waters for hours."

"As a result of these floods, 17 are dead and eight injured ... and the search for missing people continues," TAP said. "President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali gave his instructions to ensure an immediate and quick remedy to the situation."

Redeyef lies in a deprived phosphate mining region that saw riots last year as residents demanded more government help to create jobs. Ben Ali, in power for more than two decades, is seeking re-election in October.