300 confirmed dead, 2,000 missing in E. Samar

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Typhoon "Haiyan" (local name Yolanda) has killed 300 people, and 2,000 others were reported missing, an official in a typhoon-hit province said today.

Leo Dacaynos, chief of the Eastern Samar Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Council, said they had already accounted 300 people dead in Basey town alone, 2,000 were missing and many were injured, he said.

Western Visayas police head Agrimero Cruz said he has accounted 37 deaths in the region.

But official tally from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council showed that 151 people have died from the wrath of the super typhoon.

Of the official death toll, 118 came from the worst-hit Leyte province, 16 died in Eastern Samar, particularly in Hernani town, the NDRRMC said.

"Yolanda," the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines on record, leaves the country for the South China Sea on Saturday afternoon.