Filipino villagers seek escape after storms kill 568

After days of wading through mud and floodwaters, exhausted residents today scrambled for a seat on a helicopter or a ferry to escape coastal villages ravaged by back-to-back storms that killed at least 568 people and left as many missing.

Philippine officials appealed for urgent international aid after flash floods and mudslides last week swept away hundreds of houses, farms, roads and bridges in the country’s north-east.