Typhoon Gaemi causes 5 deaths, injures 531

Taipei, July 26 (CNA) Five deaths in Taiwan since Wednesday were linked to Typhoon Gaemi, which passed over the country on Thursday and made landfall in China as a tropical storm that evening, according to the Central Emergency Operations Center.

The latest casualties announced by the center included two men who died following separate incidents, a 65-year-old in Tainan and a 75-year-old in Yunlin County, according to a statement released after 9 p.m.

The 65-year-old in Tainan was taken to hospital following a fall when he was at home doing repair work, while the 75-year-old man in Yunlin was driving a scooter when he was hit by falling tree branches on his way home, according to the statement.

The Yunlin man was taken to hospital after he crashed and was found unconscious. Both men were later pronounced dead at the hospitals where they were treated, the center said.

Update: As of 2 p.m. Friday, the Central Emergency Operations Center data showed that Gaemi, now a tropical storm, has left 7 people dead and 785 others injured, while one person was listed as missing.

The center also ruled out the typhoon as a cause in the deaths of two other individuals, including a ward chief in New Taipei, who was found with no vital signs in an overturned excavator on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the number of people injured during the typhoon was revised upward to 531, the center said.

The highest number of injuries -- 174 -- was reported in Kaohsiung, followed by 66 in Tainan and 53 in Hualien County, according to the center.

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