The death toll in China from Typhoon Saomai has risen to 325, after the discovery of six more bodies in Fuding City, in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian.

The local government officials pulled five of the dead from the sea, bringing the number of bodies recovered from the waters off Shacheng harbor to 180.

Another body was found in a ravine, according to local sources.

The death toll in Fuding is still likely to rise as 81 people remain missing, while the search and rescue operations are continuing.

The local new death toll has brought total fatalities in Fujian to 236.

Previous reports listed the Saomai toll in neighboring Zhejiang Province as 87 dead and 52 missing, and two dead and one missing in Jiangxi Province.
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(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2006)