Nine dead as Typhoon lashes Philippines

Eight people drowned when a ferrry capsized and a man was killed by lightning as Typhoon Nida lashed the Philippines, causing floods and landslides that also buried entire villages, officials said Tuesday.
President Gloria Arroyo declared the heavily hit eastern Bicol region and the islands of Masbate and Samar under a state of calamity, which would give them faster access to emergency funds.
Government rescuers said more than 11,000 people have been displaced from their homes, while about 15,000 others were stranded as ferry services between the main island of Luzon and the central islands were suspended since Sunday. "It is my fervent prayer that damage to lives and properties will be mitigated through our concerted effort," Arroyo said.
A ferry with 178 passengers and crew on board capsized off the Camotes island in the central Philippines, leaving eight people dead, the coast guard said.
All the others aboard the wooden-hulled Saint Martin were rescued by fishermen, according to chief petty officer Lemuel Alquiza said. The boat had left the port of central Ormoc city despite warnings not to set sail and was near its destination when the accident occurred, he said.
The eye of the typhoon hovered over the Philippine Sea off the east coast of northern Luzon Tuesday, tracking north-west towards northern Taiwan with gusts of up to 205 kilometre's (127 miles) an hour, the weather bureau said.
The typhoon however has a 400-kilometer (248 mile) footprint and hurricane-force winds of up to 185 kilometre's (115 miles) an hour continued to whip the coast.
The eastern island of Catanduanes in Bicol appeared to bear the brunt of the damage, the civil defence office said.
Heavy rain triggered landslides that obliterated three villages around the coastal town of Gigmoto on Sunday, leaving about 700 families homeless, it added.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the landslides, but lightning killed a man Tuesday in the central province of Antique.
A 68-year-old fisherman was reported missing off the town of Mercedes on the south-east coast of Luzon, while 14 people were injured in highway accidents.
Two other people were reported missing on the island of Samar, which the civil defence office said suffered substantial damage.