Hurricane Otto kills 9 people in Costa Rica

SAN JOSE, Nov. 25 (Xinhua)-- The government of Costa Rica confirmed Friday that Hurricane Otto had killed at least nine people in the country, after the storm battered northern regions.

The director of the country's legal investigation bureau, OJI, Walter Espinoza gave a press conference to explain the deaths had occurred in the areas of Bagaces and Upala, the most affected by the strong rains and winds.

"The official number of deaths...is nine. Five of these deaths happened in the canton of Upala, and four in the zone of Bagaces," he explained.

Costa Rica's President Luis Guillermo Solis attended the same press conference and said his government had decreed three days of national mourning, starting Nov. 28, to allow time for search and rescue efforts.

According to Solis, the north of Costa Rica saw a monthly amount of rain fall in just six hours.

Neighboring Nicaragua, which was also hit by Otto, reported no casualties although a number of buildings were destroyed or damaged.

On Friday, Otto moved out into the Pacific Ocean, where it was downgraded to a tropical storm.