65 killed in China typhoon

Typhoon Longwang which struck east China's Fujian Province killed at least 65 people, including 50 police officers, and affected over 3.7 million people, the state media reported Wednesday.

Fifty armed police officers, who were swept away in a landslide have been confirmed dead on Tuesday, while another 36 officers are still missing, China Daily reported.

The officers were lodged in a training school in Fujian when the violent torrents struck on Sunday night.

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After 40 hours of searching by more than 7,000 soldiers and rescuers, 50 bodies were found till Tuesday afternoon.

Of the 15 others killed by the typhoon, five died in landslides, five were swept away by floods and the remaining five were drowned, the daily said.

Over 3.7 million people in 62 cities and counties of the province were affected by the typhoon, the 19th to hit China in 2005.

Around 5,500 houses were toppled and two lakh acres of crops in Fujian were damaged. A total of 730,000 people in the coastal provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong were evacuated to safety from the typhoon.

Around 79,000 people along the Weihe River in northwest China's Shaanxi Province and 24,000 people near the Hanjiang river in Central China's Hubei Province have been evacuated, local officials said.

The typhoon also killed one person and injured more than 10 others in Taiwan before hitting the mainland.

China has suffered numerous heavy storms this year. In September, typhoons Talim, Khanun and Damrey killed more than 130 people across the southern part of the country.