Hurricane Stan, with winds of 130 kph, smacked into Mexico's Gulf coast on Tuesday after spawning storms that left at least 56 people dead in Central America, forced evacuations and caused floods and mudslides in the region, media reports said.

At least 39 people were killed in El Salvador. The storms also caused huge material damage, and thousands of people were evacuated.

In Nicaragua, nine people died in a boat wreck, including six foreigners whose bodies were found Monday on a small island in the Pacific. The six were believed to be Ecuadorian migrants and killed when bad weather caused their boat to run ashore, said Civil Defense official Porfirio Castrillo.

Three other victims died in Managua, Matagalpa and Leon, where some bridges and highways were damaged.

In Costa Rica, a 36-year-old woman was killed while asleep early Tuesday when her home was buried by a landslide.

In Guatemala, the government declared a state of red alert as heavy downpour killed at least four people, forced the evacuation of 1,450 and left more than 21,000 others living in hazardous conditions.

The National Disaster Reduction Coordination called on people to take preventive measures to reduce further damage.

In Mexico, the National Civil Protection System said the red alert remained in force in the states of Verazcruz and Tabasco along the east coastline due to the storm that slammed into Mexican territory Tuesday.

While no further casualties were reported, property losses caused by floods are on the increase.

(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2005)