Hurricane Dorian: Bahamas death toll expected to be ‘staggering’

(FASTNEWS | COLOMBO) – The death toll from Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas will be “staggering”, the country’s government has warned as aid efforts are being stepped up.

The official death toll stands at 23, but is expected to rise further.

Officials are sending morticians and 200 body bags to the Abaco Islands, the worst-hit part of the archipelago.

Dorian – which devastated the northern Bahamas from Sunday to Tuesday – is now battering the coasts of South and North Carolina in the US, but is weakening.

Officials say hundreds, possibly thousands, are still missing in the Abacos and Grand Bahama, foreign media.