Philippine Storm Kills at Least 110

Tropical storm Lingling battered the Philippines for a second day Thursday, leaving at least 110 people dead, sinking a cargo ship and virtually shutting down several provinces.

The death toll included 80 in Mahinog town on the resort island of Camiguin, which suffered its worst disaster in half a century. With 300 people missing, officials said the overall toll was likely to rise.

Nineteen of the missing were Filipino crewmen on a cargo ship that sank in stormy seas off the northwestern Philippines. There was no word on survivors, as the poor weather hampered rescue efforts.

The storm was blamed for the collapse of a tunnel in a copper mine in Cebu province. Rescue workers were trying to reach 14 miners trapped under tons of rock and earth.

Workers in Mahinog, which reported 203 people missing, scurried to embalm dozens of corpses to avoid an outbreak of disease in the steamy tropical heat. Urgent requests went out for chain saws to cut through trees and other debris, and for anyone with a shovel to help dig through tons of mud.

But the devastation was so complete--only five houses were still standing in Hubangon, one of the villages that make up Mahinog--that it was hard to tell where most homes had stood.