Philippines’ earthquake death toll increases to 53

BANGKOK, June 10. /TASS/. The death toll from a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the southern Philippines has increased from 45 to 53, GMA News TV channel reported the fire service as saying.

"According to the information received by our emergencies center, 53 bodies have been found at the moment," said an emergencies service representative.

The Civil Defense Department previously said that 630 people were injured and over ten people are missing.

An earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao Island on Monday morning, damaging 2,500 houses, of which 460 were razed to the ground. A state of emergency was declared in the city of General Santos.

Over 145,000 residents of the Philippine region were affected by the consequences of the disaster. The Russian embassy in the Philippines told TASS that Russian diplomats are in contact "with the competent authorities of the republic and at the moment have no information about the Russians injured in the disaster."