Floods kill 129 in Ethiopia

"So far 129 people are confirmed dead. We are still looking for more on the outskirts of the city and all along the river from the north to south," said Inspector Beniam Fikru, a top police official in Dire Dawa region, about 500 kilometres (300 miles) east of the capital Addis Ababa.

The police said several thousands of people were displaced after the Dire Dawa River, which cuts through the town, broke its banks.

Doctors said they had received bodies from villages which were inundated in the country's Dire Dawa region, about 500 kilometres (300 miles) east of the capital Addis Ababa.