Thousands Feared Dead In Venezuela...12/18/99
CARACAS, Venezuela, Associated Press — More heavy rains
lashed Venezuela on Friday as the death toll from floods and mudslides rose to
202. The government said nearly 7,000 people were missing, and many were feared
dead. Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel told The Associated Press that about
7,000 people had been missing early Friday, but 300-400 people had been located
by evening. The death toll was likely to rise significantly.
THE NUMBER of people left homeless was 80,000, President
Hugo Chavez said in a speech Friday night. The latest official figures show
the devastation wreaked by several days of torrential rains in Venezuela is
far worse than previously thought.
Chavez said he was dispatching 1,000 soldiers belonging to elite paratroopers’
brigades to rescue and tend to stranded flood victims on Venezuela’s northern
coast.
