More than 5,000 people have been killed and another 11,000 are still missing in Honduras after flooding caused by Hurricane Mitch, a cabinet minister said yesterday.
"The number of dead across the country is more than 5,000 persons . . . We also have some 11,000 or more people still missing," the Communications and Public Works Minister, Mr Tomas Lozano, told reporters.
The US military has sent troops, boats and aircraft to devastated Honduras and Nicaragua to help the relief effort. US army helicopters were flying search-and-rescue and damage assessment operations in Nicaragua and northern Honduras. Cargo planes were shuttling supplies and relief personnel to affected areas,
The US military's Southern Command has set up Task Force Hope in the wake of the storm, which officials fear has left 7,000 people dead from flooding and landslides.
Thousands of people, many of them famished, dehydrated and weak, awaited rescue. In Nicaragua and Honduras, rescue teams were unable to cope with the immensity of the natural disaster - one of the worst of the past half-century. Many people were sitting on their roofs or tied to treetops, waiting for help. For many of them, it may come too late.
More than 5,000 have died in Honduras, 1,700 in Nicaragua, 144 in El Salvador, 93 in Guatemala, seven in Costa Rica and one each in Panama and Mexico.
A US Coast Guard aircraft and a British navy vessel yesterday reported spotting lifeboats, at least one of which was from Windjammer Barefoot Cruise's Fantome yacht that was reported missing last week off Honduras with a crew of 31 on board. There was no sign of life on the boats.
Emergency crews said yesterday they were unable to reach 172 communities in north-western and central Nicaragua, where thousands of people prayed for help as they endured hunger and dropping temperatures.
In the Nicaraguan capital, thousands of people were evacuated as Lake Managua rose to alarming levels, following a week of heavy rain.
Rescuers in Honduras were trying to reach hundreds of people in a remote, sparsely inhabited area on the Atlantic coast. "We are trying to get to the Mosquito Coast, where we have people on treetops and on roofs of buildings," said Mr Anibal Delgado, a government official participating in the emergency efforts.
"We tried to get there by helicopter yesterday, but could not reach the area. We'll try again today," he said in an telephone interview from La Ceiba, 650 km north-east of Tegucigalpa.
A team of US divers was participating in the rescue efforts, officials said.
In Guatemala City, crumbling buildings collapsed and power lines crashed onto the flooded streets on Monday, killing 14 people.
With hundreds of thousands of people across Central America displaced by the disaster, and basic infrastucture completely destroyed in several areas, authorities feared outbreaks of epidemics, such as cholera or dengue fever. In an attempt on Monday to reduce the risk of epidemics, dozens of bodies were incinerated in Posoltega, Nicaragua, where hundreds were buried by a colossal landslide.
The European Commission announced yesterday it would grant emergency aid of £5.4 million to victims of the disaster, while the Italian Bishops' Conference pledged £2.7 million.
Ireland is sending £400,000 in emergency funds for the victims of Hurricane Mitch. The Government has approved £200,000 and Trocaire is also making £200,000 available.