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59 hurt in tornado

MANILA: A tornado struck the southern Philippine city of Cotabato at the weekend, wrecking 217 houses and leaving 59 people injured, the civil defense office here said on Wednesday.

More than a thousand people were left homeless by Saturday's tornado, although none of the 59 casualties sustained life-threatening injuries, the government agency said.ÑAFP

Earthquake

HONG KONG: An intense undersea earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.2 has been recorded in the Maluku archipelago in eastern Indonesia, the Hong Kong Observatory said on Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The tremor recorded on Tuesday afternoon was centered north of Halmahera island in the Pacific Ocean, the observatory said. There were no reports of tsunami, destructive tidal waves caused by earthquakes.ÑAP

12 die mine explosion

MOSCOW: Twelve Russian rescue workers were killed on Tuesday after an explosion in a Siberian mine, the emergency services reported.

A fire broke out in the mine in the Keremovo region early on Tuesday. The rescue workers arrived shortly afterwards to put out the flames and oversee the evacuation of the miners, Itar Tass reported the emergency services as saying.

The rescue workers died in an ensuing explosion caused by the fire.

The bodies of the 12 victims were pulled out from under rubble three hours laters.ÑAFP

Man commits

suicide

ZAMBOANGA, (Philippines): A man in the southern Philippines was killed and two of his family members were critically injured on Wednesday when he committed suicide using a homemade bomb, police said on Wednesday.ÑAFP