Super typhoon leaves thousands dead in Philippines

Thousands of people are feared dead in the Philippines after the super typhoon 'Haiyan' left a trail of destruction across the country, the media reported Saturday.

More than 1,000 people are believed to have died in just Tacloban, the provincial capital of Leyte, some 580 km south-east of here, Sky News reported.

"We now fear that thousands will have lost their lives," a Red Cross spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Experts were flown to the storm ravaged areas of the Phillippines to assess the situation there, The Independent reported.

"The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami," the daily quoted Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, head of the UN Disaster Assessment Coordination Team sent to Tacloban, as saying.

Around 220,000 people had died as a result of the Indian Ocean disaster triggered by a massive earthquake in 2004.

"This is destruction on a massive scale. There are cars thrown like tumbleweed and the streets are strewn with debris." Around 200 people are feared killed in Samar province.

"An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban. In Samar, about 200 deaths. Validation is ongoing," said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of Philippine Red Cross.

The category 5 super typhoon hit the Philippines Friday morning with winds up to 275 kph triggering major landslides and forcing 800,000 people to flee their homes. About four million people were affected by the typhoon, the Philippines national disaster agency said.

Haiyan was the second category 5 typhoon to hit the Philippines this year after Typhoon Usagi in September. An average of 20 typhoons strike every year, and Haiyan was the 24th so far this year.

The typhoon is forecast to make landfall on the northeast coast of Vietnam Sunday morning.