Dengue sa Gwapotel pinangangambahan

YANGON (AFP) - Eight people are feared dead at sea and more than 900 homes have been ruined in a violent storm that hit Myanmar's western coast, the semi-official Myanmar Times said Sunday.

Winds blowing at speeds of up to 130 kilometers-per-hour (80-miles-per-hour) lashed villages and towns in Rakhine State along the Bay of Bengal on May 14, the newspaper reported, destroying or damaging 813 homes.

Further south in Ayeyarwady Division, more than 100 homes were destroyed, the newspaper said, quoting a Red Cross programme officer.

Bad weather also sunk a boat carrying 11 crewmen near Soe Me Kyi Island off Rakhine State, the paper said. Eight people remain missing, feared dead.

Local Red Cross warehouses in the affected areas were supplying emergency kits to the storm victims, the Myanmar Times added.