Hundreds missing after Laos dam collapse

5 billion cubic meters of water sweep through landlocked nation

Hundreds of people are missing and an unknown number believed dead after the collapse of a hydropower dam under construction in southeast Laos, state media reported Tuesday.

Communist Laos is traversed by a network of rivers and several dams are being built or planned for the impoverished and landlocked country, which exports most of its hydropower energy to neighboring countries like Thailand.

Laos News Agency said the accident happened at a hydropower dam in southeastern Attapeu province’s Sanamxay district late Monday, releasing 5 billion cubic meters of water – more than 2 million Olympic swimming pools.

The report added that there were “several human lives claimed, and several hundreds of people missing.”

Several houses in the southern part of the district were also swept away, the report said, and provincial officials put out a call for relief aid for flood victims.

The $1.2 billion dam is part of a project by Vientiane-based Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Power Company, or PNPC, a joint venture formed in 2012.

Among the companies involved in the project according to the Laos News Agency are Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding, South Korea’s Korea Western Power and the staterun Lao Holding State Enterprise.

The 410 megawatt capacity dam was supposed to start commercial operations by 2019, according to the venture’s website. The project consists of a series of dams over the Houay Makchanh, the Xe-Namnoy and the Xe-Pian rivers in neighboring Champasack Province.

It planned to export 90 percent of its electricity to energy-hungry Thailand and the remaining amount was to be offered up on the local grid.

Under the terms of construction, PNPC said it would operate and manage the power project for 27 years after commercial operations began.

Contacted by phone in Laos’ capital Vientiane, an official told AFP: “We do not have any official reports about it yet. We are gathering information.”

The hydroelectric project at Xayaburi, led by Thai group CH Karnchang, with a 1,285 megawatt dam – which will cost $3.5 billion according to state media – is at the heart of Laos’ plan to become “the battery of Southeast Asia.”

It has sharply divided several Mekong nations who worry it will disrupt vital ecosystems and their own river systems.