Death toll in Indonesia earthquake and tsunami nears 400

Baku. 29 September. REPORT.AZ/ Nearly 400 people were killed when a powerful quake sent a tsunami barrelling into the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, officials said Saturday, as hospitals struggled to cope with hundreds of injured and rescuers scrambled to reach the stricken region.

The national disaster agency put the official death toll so far at 384, all of them in the tsunami-struck city of Palu, but warned the toll was likely to rise.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a press conference earlier today four hospitals in Palu reported hundreds were also injured.

He said the fate of “tens to hundreds” of people involved in a beach festival in Palu when the tsunami struck was unknown.

He said “many victims” were still to be accounted for.

The total number of victims is not known yet.

The coastline has been devastated in central Sulawesi where the 3-metre high tsunami — triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Friday — smashed into two cities and several settlements.