Thai, Malay Flood Toll Hits 222

Rescue workers pulled more bodies from mountain villages buried under tons of mud and illegally cut trees today, raising the death toll from flooding in Thailand and Malaysia to at least 222 people.

Another 400 people were missing and feared dead as the stench of decaying bodies emanated from a sea of mud and logs that buried mountain villages in southern Thailand. Officials blamed widespread illegal logging for worsening the effects of relentless rainfall. They said illegal loggers had cut down huge stands of forest that might have slowed rain runoff and had left the logs on the hills to dry.