The death toll in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has reached 902, with hundreds still missing, dpa quoted the government's disaster relief agency as saying Thursday. More than 5.4 million people were affected by Typhoon Bopha's onslaught in the southern region of Mindanao, where entire villages were wiped out by floods and landslides. Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defence, said the number of missing was being reviewed after it was reported to have reached 934. "There's a mix-up in the number of the missing," he told dpa. "We are double checking to make sure." Ramos said some 300 of the missing were tuna fishermen who sailed despite warnings against setting out to sea. At least 35 have been rescued as of Wednesday. "We expect to get more survivors from the fishermen," he said. But Ramos admitted there was less chance of finding survivors from floods and landslides in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, which bore the brunt of the typhoon. "Every day the chances are getting dimmer," he said. Bopha slammed into Mindanao on December 4, damaging infrastructure and crops worth an estimated 14.3 billion pesos (357.5 million dollars), the Office of Civil Defence said.
