Twin disaster death toll passes 400

Relatives pray in the grave for the victims of Mount Merapi eruption during a mass burial in Indonesia (AP)
12 April 2012

The death toll from a tsunami off western Indonesia has risen to more than 400.

The toll rose to 408 on Friday as officials found more bodies, and 303 people were still missing, said Agus Prayitno, of the West Sumatra provincial disaster management centre.

Rescue teams "believe many, many of the bodies were swept to sea," said Harmensyah, the disaster centre's chief.

Along with the 33 people killed by a volcano that erupted on Tuesday more than 800 miles to the east in central Java, the number of dead from the twin disasters has now reached 441.

After a lull that allowed mourners to hold a mass burial for victims, Mount Merapi started rumbling again on Thursday with three small eruptions and three others early on Friday - easing pressure and possibly making another big eruption less likely. There were no reports of new injuries or damage.

The catastrophes struck within 24 hours in different parts of the seismically active country, severely testing Indonesia's emergency response network. The tsunami was spawned by a 7.7-magnitude quake that struck late on Monday beneath the Indian Ocean.

Aid workers trickling into the remote region found giant chunks of coral and rocks in places where homes once stood. Huge swaths of land were submerged. Swollen corpses dotted roads and beaches.

At a hospital on Pagai Utara, 35-year-old Sarifinus cradled his five-year-old son, Dimas, who screamed as medical staff tended to his broken arm.

The man described how, when the towering wall of water came, he grabbed his two other young sons and ran toward the mountain. The wave tore both from his arms and sucked them away.

Sarifinus and his wife, Martina, who sat staring blankly in a corner of the hospital, found Dimas alive after the waters receded.

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