TOKYO (AFP) - The death toll from a killer earthquake and tsunami that flattened much of Japan's northeast coast topped 2,400, police said Tuesday.

   The National Police Agency said 2,414 people are confirmed dead and 3,118 missing, with 1,885 injured in the disaster which struck on Friday afternoon.  

   The official toll yesterday stood at 1,647.

   On Sunday, the police chief of Miyagi, one of the hardest-hit prefectures, said the number of deaths was expected to exceed 10,000 in his region alone.

   Amid a mass rescue effort there were grim updates indicating severe loss of life along the battered east coast of Honshu island, where the monster waves destroyed or damaged more than 55,380 homes and other buildings.

   More than 3,000 houses were flooded by the tsunami, while some 130 houses had been burned, police said, adding that there were 68 landslides.