A 25-year-old woman was dramatically rescued at sea on Monday, four days after she was swept away from her home in the southern Philippines by floods caused by a deadly typhoon, officials
said.
Diana Salim was plucked out of the sea by a passing cargo vessel off the province of Antique, 900 kilometres north of her hometown of Sibuco in Zamboanga del Norte province, one of the areas hardest hit by Typhoon Tembin.
When the cargo ship spotted her before dawn on Christmas Day, she was clinging to a piece of debris that had detached from her house when she was washed away by the floods on Friday.
Sibuco Mayor Norbideiri Edding said Salim’s rescue was relayed to local authorities by an emergency volunteer group in Antique.
“Diana’s rescue keeps our hopes up that we will see others alive,” he told a local radio station.
Tembin slammed into the southern region of Mindanao on Friday, triggering flash floods and landslides, which killed at least 240 people, displaced more than 97,000 people and cut off electricity in a wide area.
The province of Lanao del Norte suffered the highest casualties, with 127 dead, while 74 were killed in Zamboanga del Norte, 27 in Lanao del Sur province and 12 in other provinces in Mindanao, police and local disaster relief officials said.
“We’re really sad that we have this news especially because our countrymen are looking to celebrate Christmas,” said Romina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the national disaster risk reduction management council.
