SITTWE: The death toll in cyclone-hit Myanmar's Rakhine state rose to at least 41 on Tuesday, local leaders said.
"We can confirm there are 17 deaths," Karlo, the administrator of Bu Ma village told an AFP reporter at the scene, after Cyclone Mocha struck on Sunday.
The number is on top of a death toll of 24 given to AFP by a village leader in nearby Khaung Doke Kar.
Myanmar's strife-torn Rakhine State bore the brunt of Sunday's storm that unleashed winds of up to 210 kilometres per hour (130 miles per hour) and ripped roofs off homes and brought a storm surge that inundated the state capital Sittwe.
Non-governmental relief organisation Partners said on Twitter said there were many deaths and injuries, citing its sources on the ground. It posted a video showing damage.
"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.
Local residents ride their motorcycle past broken utility pole in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on Monday. (Photo: AFP)
Myanmar's state media on Monday reported three people were killed.
The western Myanmar region is home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a persecuted minority that successive governments have refused to recognise. More than a million live in sprawling camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, having fled military crackdowns in recent years.
The United Nations 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.
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.
Local residents stand with their belongings in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on Monday, after cyclone Mocha made a landfall. (Photo: AFP)
"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 many people had been killed, as did a diplomatic source briefed on the situation, who did not provide details.
The storm was one of the worst since Cyclone Nargis swept across parts of southern Myanmar killing nearly 140,000 people in 2008.