Hundreds of thousands of people flee the country's west coast

400 killed by Typhoon Moka in Burma

The hurricane destroyed homes and displaced thousands. AFP

A spokesman for Myanmar's opposition Government of National Unity (GNU) told dpa news agency yesterday that Cyclone Moka had killed at least 400 people in Rakhine state and caused significant damage there.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Myanmar's west coast fled as officials in neighbouring Bangladesh rushed to evacuate Rohingya refugees on Saturday as the region's strongest cyclone in more than a decade hit the Bay of Bengal.

Cyclone Mocha is accompanied by winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour, according to the specialized site "Zoom Earth", which is equivalent to a category four hurricane.

Muka was expected to weaken before making landfall on Sunday morning, between Cox's Bazar - where about a million Rohingya refugees live in camps largely filled with fragile housing - and Sittwe on Burma's western Rakhine coast.

But Bangladeshi authorities have moved 190,100 people from Cox's Bazar and about <>,<> from Chittagong to safety, local official Amin Rahman told AFP on Saturday evening.

"They were evacuated to about 4000,<> hurricane shelters."

On Saturday, residents of Sittwe put their belongings and pets in cars, trucks and tuk-tuks and headed to higher areas, according to AFP correspondents.

Speaking to AFP from a truck loaded with relatives on a road heading out of the state capital, Khini Min said: "Our grandmother is with us and we have to take care of her. There is only one man left in Sittwe to take care of our homes."

Shops and markets in the town of about 150,<> people were closed, with many locals taking refuge in monasteries.

Myanmar's ruling military group is overseeing evacuations from villages along the Rakhine coast, Myanmar's state media reported.

Myanmar Airways International said all flights to Rakhine state were suspended on Monday. The Burma Red Cross Society said it was "preparing to respond to a major emergency".

• Cyclone Mocha is accompanied by winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour.