About 300 people are estimated to have been killed by a massive landslide that wiped out much of a village in southern Taiwan, a government official said on Friday, Reuters reported.
"The county magistrate gave the premier a report that in his judgment about 300 were dead," a Government Information Office section chief said, referring to the village of Hsiao Li.
"These are the conditions now. Specific numbers will depend on the army opening the road and sending people in."
The official death toll from a typhoon that hit Taiwan last weekend stands at 116. The worst floods in decades washed out roads, snapped bridges and sent low-rise buildings crashing into rivers, according to the latest statement by the disaster agency.
Pressure is mounting on Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, in office for just over a year, to expedite operations to rescue hundreds of residents of remote mountainous villages buried or stranded in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot.
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