Looting Typhoon Haiyan survivors crushed to death in rice warehouse

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At least eight people (not shown) were killed when a wall collapsed on typhoon survivors that were looting a local warehouse in Tacloban.

TACLOBAN, Philippines — An official says eight people were crushed to death when thousands of typhoon survivors stormed a government rice warehouse in the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines.

National Food Authority spokesman Rex Estoperez said Wednesday that police and soldiers were helpless when the looting took place in Leyte’s Alangalang municipality on Tuesday.

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Residents loot water damaged sacks of rice from a rice warehouse in Tacloban in the eastern Philippine island of Leyte on November 11.

He said the eight were crushed when a wall collapsed. The looters carted away more than 100,000 sacks of rice.

Estoperez says there are other warehouses in the region but refused to say where they are for security reasons.

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Looters take bags of rice from a Tacloban warehouse.