TEHRAN, June 9 (Reuters) - Flooding caused by Cyclone Gonu which swept southern Iran this week killed 12 people and damaged more than 1,000 villages, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported on Saturday. Officials said the hurricane, a rare occurrence in the Gulf region, affected the provinces of Hormuzgan, Kerman and Sistan-Baluchistan, damaging roads, bridges and houses. "So far 12 people in Sistan-Baluchistan and Hormuzgan have been killed and 9 have been injured due to floods," Mehr reported, quoting emergency services official Farzad Panahi. Iranian media on Friday had said 5 people were killed. Cyclone Gonu killed 49 people in nearby Oman and that country's state news agency said 27 people were still missing. Gonu also raised fears of a disruption to exports from the Middle East, origin of more than a quarter of the world's oil. Oil prices rose to around $71 a barrel on Thursday. Officials in both Iran and Oman have said conditions were gradually returning to normal. An Iranian Interior Ministry official told Mehr the full extent of damage caused by the hurricane had yet to be assessed due to difficulties communicating with the worst-hit areas.
