Typhoon Gaemi causes 8 deaths, 866 injuries as of Friday night

Taipei, July 26 (CNA) At least eight people have died across Taiwan since Wednesday due to Typhoon Gaemi, according to the Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC).

CEOC statistics released at 8 p.m. Friday indicated that there was also one person reported missing and 866 injured during and after the typhoon's passing through Taiwan.

The deaths included a 64-year-old female motorbiker who died after being hit by a falling tree in Kaohsiung; a 44-year-old woman who was killed by a fallen rooftop wall in Hualien County; and a 78-year-old man who was killed during a landslide in Kaohsiung.

In addition, a 65-year-old man fell to the ground undertaking repair work at home and later died at hospital in Tainan. A 75-year-old scooter rider collided with a fallen tree and fell to the ground before being rushed to a hospital in Yulin County where doctors were unable to resuscitate him.

The CEOC said two corpses -- one man and one woman -- were spotted in flooded fields at two separate locations in Chiayi County's Shiushang Township. They have not yet been identified and the cases are being investigated.

Also in Chiayi County, an Alishan Forest Railway employee was found without life signs in his car hit by falling rocks, and was sent to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The center ruled out Typhoon Gaemi 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 authorities are still searching for a 67-year-old man surnamed Kuo (郭) believed to have fallen into a culvert in Chiayi County's Fanlu Township.

The number of people injured during the typhoon was revised upward to 866, the center said.

The highest number of injuries -- 259 -- were reported in Kaohsiung, followed by 125 in Tainan and 120 in Taichung.

According to the CEOC, 279 emergency camps have been erected to house 1,232 individuals displaced by the typhoon.

The center also said nine sea vessels sought Taiwan's assistance during the typhoon.

One of those, the Tanzanian-flagged "FU SHUN," sunk off the coast of Kaohsiung Harbor.

Four crew members rescued from the cargo ship later identified a body pulled from the water as the Tanzanian-flagged vessel's captain.

The center added that while the typhoon has already left Taiwan and been downgraded to a tropical storm as it reached China, central and southern Taiwan could continue to see significant rainfall.

As a result of an incoming low-pressure system, the eastern half and southern part of Taiwan could still see sporadic showers and even thundershowers, with the possibility of sporadic heavy rain or even extremely heavy rain.