Supplies airlifted to thousands after rainfall and floods kill 24

Troops yesterday airlifted supplies to thousands of people cut off by landslides and torrential downpours that have killed at least 24 in south-west Japan as further heavy rain was forecast.

Television footage showed soldiers loading food, water, and medical supplies onto military helicopters to send them to mountainous areas in Yame, Fukuoka prefecture on Kyushu island.

Local authorities were separately dispatching rescue helicopters to take patients and elderly villagers to hospital from the isolated area, where at least one person was killed, officials said.