JAKARTA, Nov. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Hundreds of chickens in tsunami-ravaged Aceh Province had died of bird flu, which was the first outbreak of such a disease in this coastal place, local media reported on Friday.

    The mass death occurred in capital city Banda Aceh and two other districts, the Jakarta Post quoted Sjamsul Bahri, the Agricultural Ministry's Director of Animal Health, as saying in Banda Aceh on Thursday.

    "Infected areas have been isolated and all the birds - healthy and sick - were killed," he said.

    The emergence of bird flu could add to the local people's hardship, who witnessed the Dec. 26 tsunami that claimed more than200,000 lives and destroyed 90 percent of the public infrastructure, he added.

    Bird flu has been found in 23 out of the country's 30 provinces while seven out of more than a dozen of infected people died.

    In Southeast Asia, it has claimed the lives of more than 60 out of 120-strong infected persons since its outbreak in 2003. Enditem