More help arrives in Acapulco as toll rises

Damage caused by Hurricane Otis in Puerto Marque. Pic/AP

More resources are arriving on Mexico's battered Pacific coast, and the death toll from Hurricane Otis is growing as searchers recover more bodies from Acapulco's harbor and under fallen trees and other storm debris.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Saturday that his opponents are trying to inflate the toll to damage him politically, but few expect the latest mark of 39 dead to be where it stops. Hundreds of families are still awaiting word from loved ones.

Otis roared ashore early Wednesday with devastating 266 kmph winds after strengthening so rapidly that people had little time to prepare.

Mexican authorities raised Otis' official toll to 39 dead and 10 missing Saturday. But locals suggested that number will likely grow, in part because of the number of people who rode out on boats during what had started as a tropical storm and in just 12 hours powered up into a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.

39
Total No. of deaths reported so far

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