Many Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar were reportedly killed in Cyclone Mocha which battered the country at the weekend, according to a relief group and media reports Tuesday.
Myanmar's strife-torn Rakhine State bore the brunt of Sunday's storm that unleashed winds of up to 210 kph (130 mph) and ripped roofs off homes and brought a storm surge that inundated the state capital Sittwe.
Non-governmental relief organization Partners said on Twitter that there were many deaths and injuries, citing its sources on the ground. It posted a video showing the damage.
Reuters could not independently verify the number of casualties. Myanmar's state media, controlled by the military regime, reported only three deaths on Monday.
"We are scaling up our response effort to provide critical relief supplies like rice and tarps to Rohingya communities affected by Cyclone Mocha as we are able," Partners said in another post on Twitter.
The western Myanmar region is home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a persecuted minority that successive governments have refused to recognize. More than a million live in sprawling camps in neighboring Bangladesh, having fled military crackdowns in recent years.
News portal Myanmar Now said 22 Rohingya were killed, citing residents.
However, a resident in the area, who declined to be identified over concerns for their safety, told Reuters more than 100 Rohingya were killed, based on assessments from multiple villages he said he had visited in the aftermath.
"There are also so many missing people from the storm," he said. "We didn't receive any help so far."
Two other residents contacted by Reuters also said a large number of people had been killed, as did a diplomatic source briefed on the situation, who did not provide details.
Communications cut off
Meanwhile, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) cited local leaders to report at least 41 deaths on Tuesday.
"We can confirm there are 17 deaths," Karlo, the administrator of Bu Ma village near the state capital Sittwe, told an AFP reporter at the scene.
"There will be more deaths, as more than a hundred people are missing."
The village is inhabited by the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.
The Bu Ma number was on top of a death toll of 24 given to AFP by a Rohingya village leader in nearby Khaung Doke Kar village.
That leader requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals from the country's junta.
In Bu Ma on Tuesday morning, residents walked the seashore searching for family members swept away by a storm surge that accompanied the cyclone, AFP correspondents said.
The United Nations refugee office said it was investigating reports that Rohingya living in displacement camps had been killed in the storm.
"UNHCR is saddened at hearing reports of deaths at displacement camps in Rakhine State in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha," it said in a statement.
It added that it was "attempting to conduct detailed assessments at displacement camps and sites to get a clearer picture of the situation."
State media silent
Myanmar's state media Tuesday made no mention of casualties but said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing had visited Sittwe to assess the damage, donate money and give instructions on the response.
The U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) said about 6 million people in the region were already in need of humanitarian assistance before the storm, among them 1.2 million people internally displaced by ethnic conflict.
The storm Sunday was one of the worst since Cyclone Nargis swept across parts of southern Myanmar killing nearly 140,000 people in 2008.