The World - News from Aug. 2, 1988

A flash flood raged through Chichirivichi, a Venezuelan resort on the Caribbean Sea, causing at least three deaths by official count. Eight others were injured and 12 were reported missing, and authorities expressed fears that the toll could rise as helicopters and boats searched for victims. Newspapers reported up to 60 people missing and presumed dead. Collapse of a dam in nearby mountains triggered the flood, which carried a torrent of tree trunks and mud through the town, situated on a palm-fringed bay 35 miles northwest of Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.