Rescuers searched for survivors of Hurricane Felix on Thursday as the death toll from the powerful storm rose to 65, Nicaraguan officials said. The bodies of 25 fishermen were found along Honduras' Miskito Coast, believed to be from a group of 109 Nicaraguan Miskito Indians who sought refuge in canoes when Felix hit, according to The Associated Press. Authorities rescued 52 Miskito Indians who lived on low-lying reefs and keys off the coast, said Honduran Congresswoman Carolina Echeverria. They survived the hurricane's deluge by grasping floating objects until help arrived, and bodies that could not be recovered were seen floating in the water, she said.
Felix barreled ashore about 7:45 a.m. ET Tuesday near the Honduras-Nicaragua border as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds, the most intense classification on the Saffir-Simpson scale used by meteorologists.
Jorge Ramon Arnesto Soza, executive secretary of the National System for the Prevention, Mitigation and Attention of Disasters, said those expected reports will probably raise the current death toll, which he described as "very low." (CNN)
