Residents wade across a flooded street brought by heavy rains and strong winds of Typhoon Nock-ten which cut through Naboa town, Camarines Sur, Bicol region, central Philippines December 27, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
MANILA, Philippines: The Philippine coast guard has pressed the search for 18 missing Filipino crewmen from a cargo ship that sank at the height of Typhoon Nock-Ten, which spoiled Christmas celebrations in Asia's largest Catholic nation.
Coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said Tuesday that 14 other crewmen have been rescued and one died after the M/V Starlite Atlantic sank off Mabini town in Batangas province, where the powerful typhoon passed Monday on its way out of the country into the South China Sea.
At least seven people died from the typhoon, including the sunken ship's crewman and villagers who drowned from flooding or were pinned by fallen trees or a collapsed wall in Albay and Quezon provinces.
Nock-Ten forced more than 400,000 villagers to abandon their Christmas celebrations for emergency shelters.
