Hundreds unaccounted for in Kaohsiung village: survivors

The village was cut off from the outside world after flood waters destroyed a bridge about 12 kilometers away.

The survivors urged the government to seize every valuable moment to launch a rescue operation to help the trapped villagers.

Earlier in the day, two army helicopters managed to airlift 26 villagers from Siaolin and two more from neighboring Tajin Village to safety.

Army authorities originally planned to airlift all 44 of the Siaolin villagers who managed to flee from their mudslide-stricken homes, but rescue efforts were suspended after four sorties due to bad weather and low visibility.

The poor weather conditions also forced the National Airborne Service Corps (NASC) to cancel its plan to deliver relief supplies to two other mudslide-damaged mountain villages -- Namasia and Taoyuan.

The staggering amount of rainfall delivered by Morakot over the weekend led to massive flooding and landslides that wreaked havoc in Kaohsiung County's mountainous villages, cutting them off from the outside world.

Kaohsiung County Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsing personally took an NASC flight in the morning to check the situations in the isolated villages. But the helicopter could not make a landing when flying to Siaolin because of poor weather.

Some rescued villagers criticized Yang for failing to take timely precautionary measures and delaying in organizing relief efforts.

Yang said all-out rescue efforts could only begin after swelling water in major rivers recedes as all bridges and roads linking the mountainous villages with the outside have been severely damaged.

Interior Minister Liao Liou-yi visited Kaoshiung County's Chishan Junior High School, which was turned into a post-disaster operation base.

Some local officials complained that the central government was slow in responding to the region's worst flooding in half a century.

Liao said that he has asked the armed forces to enter the disaster zones to rescue stranded villagers as soon as weather conditions permit.

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