Tropical storm Megi: Philippines death toll rises to 123 as landslides bury villages

Focus now on retrieving bodies, says mayor, after strongest storm to hit archipelago this year devastates communities

The death toll from landslides and floods in the Philippines rose to 123 on Wednesday with scores missing and feared dead, officials said, as rescuers dug up more bodies with bare hands and backhoes in crushed villages.

Most of the deaths from tropical storm Megi - the strongest to hit the archipelago this year - were in the central province of Leyte, where a series of landslides devastated communities.