8 dead in rice looting in typhoon-hit Philippines

In this Monday, Nov. 11, 2013 file photo, survivors carry bags of rice from a warehouse which they stormed due to shortage of food at typhoon-ravaged Tacloban city, Leyte province central Philippines. Haiyan slammed the island nation with a storm surge two stories high and some of the highest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone. An untold number of homes were blown away, and thousands of people are feared dead. AP/AARON FAVILA

TACLOBAN, Philippines — An official says eight people were crushed to death when thousands of typhoon survivors stormed a government rice warehouse in the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines.

National Food Authority spokesman Rex Estoperez said Wednesday that police and soldiers were helpless when the looting took place in Leyte's Alangalang municipality on Tuesday.

He said the eight were crushed when a wall collapsed. The looters carted away more than 100,000 sacks of rice.

Estoperez says there are other warehouses in the region but refused to say where they are for security reasons.
 

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