Manila: Typhoon Kalmaegi has left at least 85 people dead and 75 others missing in the central Philippines, many in widespread flooding that trapped people on their roofs and swept away cars in a hard-hit province still recovering from a deadly earthquake, officials say.

Among the dead were six crew members of a Philippine Air Force helicopter that crashed in Agusan del Sur province on Mindanao island during a disaster response mission, the military said. It did not give the cause of the crash.

Kalmaegi blew away from western Palawan province into the South China Sea before midday on Wednesday (Philippine time) with sustained winds of up to 130km/h and gusts of up to 180 km/h, according to forecasters.

The Philippines, which is hit by an average of 20 tropical storms each year, is reco

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