Indians flee east coast as cyclone Phailin makes landfall

Almost half a million people have fled the eastern Indian coast, many leaving just hours before a "super cyclone" hit the country.

The vast weather system – cyclone Phailin – was generating winds of up to 220km/h (136mph) and forcing huge waves far inland even before it struck the shores of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states just after 9pm local time.

Aid and disaster management officials have estimated that up to 12 million people lie in its path. They forecast widespread destruction and disruption though believe that casualty levels will be "negligible" compared to those in 1999 when a storm killed 10,000 people. "The community is prepared, the government is prepared, the [NGOs] are prepared this time," said Manish Choudhary of the Indian Red Cross Society.

Choudhary said the group had set up 75 cyclone centres and five relief camps and was sending tarpaulins as well as water sanitation equipment to the disaster zone.

Even before landfall, coconut trees in villages along the coast had been bent and broken by the gusting wind. Electricity poles were brought down and roads were littered with debris.

A huge wave driven by cyclone Phailin comes ashore at Vishakhapatnam in India's eastern state of Andhra Pradesh. Photograph: AP

Libya's prime minister has failed, says Muslim Brotherhood leader

Libyan prime minister Ali Zidan gives a press conference after his brief abduction this week. Photograph: Ismail Zitouny/Reuters

The leader of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood has said the prime minister, who was briefly abducted by militia members this week, has failed and needs to be replaced.

Mohammed Sawan said on Saturday the Libyan parliament is "seriously searching for an alternative" to Ali Zidan, who was seized from his hotel room on Thursday.

Zidan has described the kidnapping as an attempted coup and warned that some of Libya's many armed militias want to turn the country into "another Afghanistan or Somalia".