Three dead, six missing as storm hits southern Philippines

At least three people were killed and six others were missing after a tropical storm struck the southern Philippines Friday, unleashing floods and landslides across a region of 20 million people, officials said. Tropical Storm Tembin hit the east coast of Mindanao, the archipelago nation's second-largest island, before dawn with gusts of 125 kilometres (80 miles) an hour bringing torrential rain, the state weather office said. "We forced hundreds of people to evacuate some villages, but the water rose swiftly and our rescuers cannot reach other areas," civil defence officer Saripada Pacasum of Lanao del Sur province, one of the hardest-hit areas, told AFP.