Uncertain future
China ready to offer support: foreign ministry
Rescuers recovered 26 bodies and hundreds remain missing after a dam collapse swamped several villages in southern Laos, as survivors Wednesday questioned why they got little warning of the deluge.
Two South Korean contractors said they reported damage at least a day before parts of the Xe-Namnoy dam gave way Monday and unleashed a wall of water.
A Thai consular official, Chana Miencharoen, at the scene of the relief effort in Attapeu province told AFP that by Wednesday late afternoon 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, landlocked Southeast Asian country.
The Chinese foreign ministry expressed deep condolences to Laos on Wednesday, saying the Chinese government is ready to offer help.
“China is ready to provide timely and active support and assistance to Laos in its relief work and is in close communication with Laos on this issue,” China Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Geng Shuang told a daily press conference on Wednesday.
“According to the Chinese Embassy in Laos, there is currently no information on the casualties of Chinese citizens.”
In an update on Wednesday afternoon, state-run Laos News Agency said hundreds of people remained unaccounted for, with at least 50 missing from the village of Ban Mai alone.
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 relief effort.
Questions began to emerge over the collapse, with some of the displaced saying they were warned to evacuate homes only hours before disaster struck.
“It happened quickly, we had little time to prepare ourselves,” Joo Hinla, 68, from one of the worst-hit villages of Ban Hin Lath, told AFP from a warehouse crammed with over 700 displaced people in a neighboring province.
“All of the houses in my village are under water. Four of my family are missing, we don’t know about their fate yet.”
Hundreds of other displaced people, including women, children and the elderly, sat on the floor nearby surrounded by plastic bags crammed with meagre belongings.
Laos, poor but blessed with abundant natural resources, aims to become the “Battery of Asia” allowing dozens of foreign-funded dam projects across its network of rivers.