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* Story Highlights
* Officials say typhoon death toll in Taiwan could leap more than
threefold
* Village of Shiao Lin covered with what rescuers say may be five
stories of mud
* 31,000 people have been pulled alive from the mud and debris SHIAO LIN, Taiwan (CNN) -- The number of people killed in Taiwan by
Typhoon Morakot, a destructive storm that swept through East Asia last
week, could triple because hundreds of people are feared trapped under
mudslides, the president's office said Friday.
Luo Shou Luan (left) is comforted as she looks at what is left of her
home village, Shiao Lin. As of late Friday night, the death toll from the typhoon was put at 121,
but Ma Ying Jeou's office said the number of deaths could exceed 500. Fifty-three people were missing and 45 were injured, according to
official numbers, government spokesman Andrew Cheng told CNN. "We try to minimize the death tolls, but you know these mudslides are
quite serious. We have done our best to do the rescue work," Cheng said. Meanwhile, the authorities told CNN's John Vause Friday that they
believe most of the people able to be rescued have been. Rescuers tried to determine whether the mud was stable enough to bring
in excavators to begin searching for bodies in Shiao Lin. Since the typhoon made landfall over the weekend, more than 31,000
people have been pulled from villages, according to official government
figures. Chen Chiu Lian, 76, who lives in Shiao Lin with her teenage grandson,
Wang Hsin Hong, explained to CNN's Pauline Chiou how the typhoon hit. "I had just finished eating. My grandson was taking a nap. It rained and
rained. There was water to my left and to my right ... The next day, it
was still raining. "Our house was like a boat. The water was like an ocean. How can you
escape? There was no way to escape. My grandson told me to swim. I was
swimming and crawling through the water and debris." Video Watch her
story of survival » She said their home was the only one left in the village where about 160
once stood. The two eventually were rescued by a helicopter from the
roof of the house, Chen said. They went to stay with friends. In other remote mountainous areas of Kaohsiung County, where Shiao Lin
is located, rescues also have proved difficult. Torrential downpours, dense fog, rugged terrain and raging rivers have
made it difficult to get through. Washed-out roads and bridges rendered
ground rescue operations virtually impossible in the central and
southern regions of the island, the National Disaster Prevention and
Protection Commission said. Earlier in the week, the six-story Jinshuai Hotel in Jhihben collapsed
into the Jhihben River after its foundations were eroded by surging
floodwaters. Media reports showed the building toppling into the water
with a huge splash. Those inside had already been evacuated. Typhoon Morakot dropped 2.6 meters (102 inches) of rain on southern and
central parts of this island this week, according to CNN International
meteorologist Brandon Miller. Rescue commander Lu Chin Hong said the wind and rain caused mudslides on
each side of the valley where Shiao Lin sits. Pan Yuan Yin, who also lost relatives to the mudslides, said he doesn't
want to rebuild the village. "I want this to become a memorial and let the dead rest in peace," he
told CNN. In the nearby village of Shing Ki, where a bridge collapsed, rescuers
evacuated as many people as possible using a cable system strung over
the river. However, when the cable slackened, workers got worried and
stopped. About 300 people left the village, but a dozen opted to stay behind,
said Vause.
advertisement In some places, the mud is waist-deep, he said. The only way people can
escape the village is to climb down the side of the valley and cross the
river, which is swollen and fast-moving. It is fed by mud lakes at
higher altitudes. After hitting Taiwan, Morakot roared on to mainland China on Sunday,
killing at least six people and displacing 1.4 million, authorities said.
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