Typhoon Haiyan: Eight killed in food crush

EIGHT people were crushed to death when thousands of typhoon survivors stormed a government rice warehouse in the typhoon-ravaged Philippines, an official said.

Residents climb on the damaged warehouse in Alangalang, Leyte. Picture: Getty

MORE ON HAIYAN

• Desperate survivors forced to steal food

• Official death toll rising

National Food Authority spokesman Rex Estoperez said police and soldiers were helpless when the looting took place in Leyte’s Alangalang municipality.

Estoperez said eight people were crushed when a wall collapsed. The looters carted away more than 100,000 sacks of rice.

Mr Estoperez said there are other warehouses in the region but refused to say where, for security reasons.

The deaths came as relief operations started picking up pace, although only minimal amounts of water, food and medical supplies were reaching increasingly desperate survivors in the hardest-hit areas.

Aviation authorities said two more airports in the region had reopened, allowing for more aid flights.

The official death toll rose to 1,883 yesterday, while president Benigno Aquino III said the total could be closer to 2,000 or 2,500, lower than an earlier estimate that feared as many as 10,000 might be dead.