More than 700 stranded residents found in Kaohsiung

Gen. Chou Yen-chung, chief of political affairs of the ROC Army, said members of the special forces reported in the evening that the residents were scattered over three villages after being stranded by rising floods and extensive mudslides caused by Typhoon Morakot.

Food and water were delivered to the villagers, including 200 in Siaolin Village and more than 200 in neighboring Minzu Village and an additional 300 in Minsheng Village, Chou said.

Helicopters will be assigned to gradually move the people, mainly indigenous residents, to safety beginning this morning, he said.

The news was a relief for many who got earlier information that as many as 600 residents still trapped in Siaolin Village could have been buried alive.

Members of the Marine Corps and the army's special forces already brought several dozen of villages back on helicopters early yesterday morning.

Two army helicopters had landed at the mudslide-battered Siaolin, Taoyuan and Namasia villages and had airlifted 18 people to safety, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC).

The staggering amount of rainfall delivered by Typhoon 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.

The army said earlier it would continue to send helicopters to mountain villages to search for other survivors, the CEOC said, adding that some villagers upstream from Siaolin had refused to evacuate but had demanded airdrops of food and water.

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