The death toll of Typhoon Morakot hit 163 in Taiwan as of 10 p.m. Saturday, 10 more than Friday's figure, Xinhua quoted local disaster response authorities as saying. The authorities also reported 503 missing and 45 people injured as of Saturday night. The heaviest confirmed death tolls were reported in the counties of Kaohsiung with 96, Tainan with 28 and Pingtung with 22. Search for the victims is still underway at two villages in Kaohsiung where hundreds of villagers were feared buried alive by mudslides. Local emergency response center in Kaohsiung was still working on the exact casualty figures. Morakot on Aug. 8 was the worst typhoon to hit the island in nearly 50 years, wreaking havoc across the central and southern regions.
