Broken boats are piled up next to a broken bridge in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on May 15, 2023, after cyclone Mocha made a landfall. - AFP
BU MA, Myanmar (AFP): The death toll in cyclone-hit Myanmar's Rakhine state rose to at least 41 on Tuesday (May 16), local leaders told AFP.
Cyclone Mocha made landfall near state capital Sittwe on Sunday carrying winds of up to 195 kilometres (120 miles) per hour that hammered low-lying communities.
"We can confirm there are 17 deaths," Karlo, the administrator of Bu Ma village, told an AFP reporter at the scene.
"There will be more deaths, as more than a hundred people are missing."
The number is on top of a death toll of 24 given to AFP by a village leader in nearby Khaung Doke Kar.
That leader requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals from the country's junta.
The junta said on Monday that five people had been killed, without specifying exactly where they had died.
It was not clear whether the junta's death toll included any of those killed in Bu Ma and Khaung Doke Kar.
AFP has contacted a junta spokesman for comment on the new death toll.
