Norwegian sailor survives Philippine typhoon

The 61-year-old sailor Jan Fredrik Mack from Norway has survived the Chan-Hom typhoon, which according to the local authorities so far has caused flooding and landslides – and claimed the life of around 30 people and made about 5000 homeless in the north eastern part of the Philippines.


“I was very lucky, the force of the wind was about 80 knots and the ship lost the power, but our loss is very small compared with many of the locals” the fortunate sailor says to the Norwegian newspaper VG.


According to National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) Chan-Hom slammed into the northern province of Pangasinan late Thursday with maximum winds of 150 kilometres per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 185 kph. It toppled electrical posts, uprooted trees and busted electrical transformers in the northern resort city of Baguio, where five landslides occurred. Thousands of passengers is stranded in various ports in the northern and central Philippines as the coast guard prohibited sea travel amid stormy seas. Electricity was also down in a wide area in the affected provinces, the NDCC said.


Chan-Hom struck the Philippines a few days after typhoon Kujira battered eastern provinces, killing 27 people and damaging more than 9 million dollars worth of crops, livestock and fisheries.

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