Three killed, fifty injured by Cyclone Gonu in Iran (Roundup)

Jun 7, 2007, 18:31 GMT

Tehran - Three people were killed and fifty injured in southern Iran by Cyclone Gonu, state television network IRIB reported Thursday.

The IRIB report had said that two people were killed in Jask and one in Bandar-Abbas in the Hormuzgan province. The IRIB website said that the two killed in Jask were relief workers whose lorry fell into the Tabarkan river.

One man died in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas but it is still unclear whether he was killed by the cyclone or in a motorbike accident.

The head of the emergency unit in the Hormuzgan province confirmed that two people drowned and fifty others were injured and had to be hospitalised.

No casualties have yet been reported from the south-eastern Sistan-Beluchistan province but heavy rainfalls reaching over 110 millimetre have made it impossible for relief teams reaching flood- hit villages in the province.

Even choppers could not be used in the area due to the strong wind.

Sistan-Beluchistan governor Habibullah Dehmardeh told Mehr news agency that the rainfalls in the last 48 hours were more than the whole rain the province has had during last year.

According to news agency reports Thursday, no major damage was caused by Cyclone Gonu in Iran, but there was still a state of emergency in at least two provinces in the south and south-west of the country,

Residents of the ports Jask and Chabahar in the provinces of Hormuzgan and Sistan-Beluchistan respectively were ordered to leave and seek temporary shelter in safer areas for the next 24 hours at least.

The governor of Sistan-Beluchistan said that so far no major damage had been witnessed in the province, but all local officials were still on alert as the storm could still hit the province during Thursday.

Also officials in Hormuzgan said that despite strong winds on Wednesday night measuring 200 kilometres per hour, there have been no casualties in the Persian Gulf province.

Damage in both provinces was reportedly limited to toppled trees and temporary difficulties with the electricity supply.

The interior ministry, however, warned residents in the two provinces to stay away from coastal areas and avoid sea transport as wave heights in the Persian Gulf could reach more than five metres.

The country's civil aviation organization has cancelled flights to the airports which might be affected by Cyclone Gonu.