131 missing from dam collapse: Laos PM

ATTAPEU: The Laotian prime minister said yesterday 131 people are still missing two days after a dam collapse swamped several villages in the country’s south, killing at least 26 people, reports AFP.

In a rare televised press conference by the leader of the secretive communist country, Thongloun Sisoulith gave the most specific figure so far for the number unaccounted for.

Earlier official reports spoke of hundreds missing in Attapeu province.

“One hundred and thirty one people have been reported missing,” he said, adding all of them were Lao nationals.

Survivors have questioned why they got little warning of the deluge, which inundated several villages across a vast area with several meters of flood water.

Two South Korean contractors said they had reported damage a day before parts of the Xe-Namnoy dam gave way Monday and unleashed a wall of water.

Thai consular official Chana Miencharoen, at the scene of the relief effort told AFP that by late afternoon Wednesday 26 bodies had been recovered.

“Seventeen others are injured and in hospital,” he said, adding roof-level floodwater was hampering rescue efforts in a remote area of the poor and landlocked Southeast Asian country.

Information trickled slowly out of Laos as the publicity-shy country tried to get to grips with the disaster.

The Vientiane Times reported that 3,000 were in need of rescue as of Wednesday afternoon, taking shelter in trees and on rooftops.

Footage on Laos television showed people huddled on roofs awaiting rescue as muddy water swirled menacingly just below them, with the army and local volunteers leading the rescue effort.

Questions began to emerge over the collapse, with some of the displaced saying they were warned to leave their homes only hours before disaster struck.

 

131 missing from dam collapse: Laos PM

ATTAPEU: The Laotian prime minister said yesterday 131 people are still missing two days after a dam collapse swamped several villages in the countrys south, killing at least 26 people, reports AFP. In a rare televised press conference by the leader of the secretive communist country, Thongloun Sisoulith gave the most specific figure so far for the number unaccounted for. Earlier official reports spoke of hundreds missing in Attapeu province. One hundred and thirty one people have been reported missing, he said, adding all of them were Lao nationals. Survivors have questioned why they got little warning of the deluge, which inundated several villages across a vast area with several meters of flood water. Two South Korean contractors said they had reported damage a day before parts of the Xe-Namnoy dam gave way Monday and unleashed a wall of water. Thai consular official Chana Miencharoen, at the scene of the relief effort told AFP that by late afternoon Wednesday 26 bodies had been recovered. Seventeen others are injured and in hospital, he said, adding roof-level floodwater was hampering rescue efforts in a remote area of the poor and landlocked Southeast Asian country. Information trickled slowly out of Laos as the publicity-shy country tried to get to grips with the disaster. The Vientiane Times reported that 3,000 were in need of rescue as of Wednesday afternoon, taking shelter in trees and on rooftops. Footage on Laos television showed people huddled on roofs awaiting rescue as muddy water swirled menacingly just below them, with the army and local volunteers leading the rescue effort. Questions began to emerge over the collapse, with some of the displaced saying they were warned to leave their homes only hours before disaster struck.