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Hundreds dead as quake, tsunami hit Indonesia's Sulawesi

Nearly 400 people have been killed after a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit Indonesia's central Sulawesi island.

The national disaster agency put the current death toll at 384, all of them reported in the tsunami-struck city of Palu, but warned the number was likely to rise as rescue efforts continued on Saturday.

In Palu - home to around 350,000 people - partially covered bodies lay on the ground near the shore, the day after tsunami waves triggered by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake came ashore.

[...] Indonesia's meteorological and geophysics agency BMKG issued a tsunami warning after the earthquake, but lifted it 34 minutes later. The agency was widely criticised for not informing a tsunami had hit Palu on Saturday, though officials said waves had come within the time the warning was issued. The Palu area was hit by a less powerful quake earlier on Friday, which destroyed some houses, killed one person and injured at least 10 in Donggala, authorities said.

Sulawesi.

See also: 34 children attending Bible camp found dead as death toll cross 1,200 in Indonesia quake
Sulawesi tsunami devastates coast in Indonesia – in pictures

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