Manila: Typhoon Phanfone battered several central Philippine islands on Christmas Day and is reported to have killed 10 persons and six missing. It made seven landfalls before heading out to the South China Sea.
Thousands of people were also forced to evacuate in several provinces before the typhoon.
Thousands were also stranded at shuttered shipping ports, while dozens of flights were cancelled.
The Philippine weather agency, PAGASA, on Thursday said that Phanfone was reported 155 kilometres (96 miles) west of the province of Palawan, with maximum winds of up to 130 kilometres per hour (80 miles per hour) and gustiness of up to 160kph (99 miles per hour).
