World News Typhoon Songda death toll climbs to 31

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The death toll from Typhoon Songda rose to 31 on Sept. 8, with more than 900 injured mainly in Hokkaido and western Japan.

Heavy rain and strong winds moved across the archipelago, before the season's 18th typhoon was downgraded to a tropical depression at around 3 p.m. on Sept. 8.

Nearly half of the 31 deaths nationwide were of sailors who were on two foreign freighters hit by the typhoon in western Japan on Sept. 7.

The Japan Coast Guard found the bodies of eight crew members from the Indonesian freighter, the Tri Ardhianto, which broke up when it ran aground in Yamaguchi Prefecture on Sept. 7, raising the number of deaths from the accident to 11.

The remaining 11 from the ship are still missing. All are Indonesian nationals.

The coast guard also continued its search for one missing sailor from the Cambodian lumber transport ship, the Blue Ocean, which capsized Sept. 7 off Hiroshima. Three of the 18 Russian crew members on board were found dead.

Strong winds and high waves caused major damage to the more than 700-year-old Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima, Hiroshima Prefecture, a World Heritage site.

Songda is the seventh typhoon to land on Japan proper this year, breaking the record of six in a single season. (Kyodo)

台風18号で死者31人に

台風18号により、北海道や西日本を中心に 900人以上の負傷者を出し、死亡者数は8日には、 31人にのぼった。

Shukan ST: Sept. 17, 2004

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