SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian man widely identified as a former priest who blew the whistle on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church is among the dead from a typhoon that devastated the Philippines, according to reports.

The department of foreign affairs on Sunday said a 50-year-old New South Wales man had been killed, although it declined to confirm his identity.

But the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and other media said he was former priest Kevin Lee, who was removed from his parish responsibilities in Sydney last year after admitting to marrying a woman in secret.

Lee spoke out about abuse in the Catholic Church on an ABC programme, Unholy Silence, last year. He was believed to be living in the Philippines with his Filipina wife and young baby.

Super typhoon Haiyan ripped through the Philippines and is now bearing down on Vietnam. A regional Philippine police chief on Sunday said 10,000 people were believed to have killed in one province alone.