First quake casualties flown out of Indonesian island
Antara said nine seriously injured casualties, workers of the Barito Pacific Timber company, arrived in the city of Manado late Monday on a commercial flight from Mangole and were rushed straight to the Bethseda hospital.
Another five were flown to the island of Ambon.
The head of Barito Pacific's Manado office, Sanusi (eds: one name) was quoted as saying that electrical services on much of the island had been down since the quake, measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, struck the island late Sunday.
Five Barito employees, one a woman, were killed when they were buried in the ruins of the dormitories in which they were sleeping.
Barito Pacific director Johanes Hardian has flown in to deliver relief supplies to some 5,000 workers at the timber company. The lightly injured will be evacuated by company boat from Mangole, Sanusi said.
Continuous aftershocks in the area have left the island's 120,000 inhabitants weary and on alert, he said. On Monday police said most residents were camped in fields away from their houses and some had gone to higher ground in fear of tidal waves.
The tectonic quake struck at 11:10 p.m. (1410 GMT) Sunday in the Sea of the Moluccas, cracking roads, toppling bridges and damaging a pier.
The epicentre was 33 kilometres (20.5 miles) under the seabed near Mangole island, 380 kilometres (237 miles) south of Manado on Sulawesi island.
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