Hundreds missing in Laos after dam collapses

HUNDREDS of people are missing and an unknown number are feared dead after a partly built dam in Laos collapsed during heavy rain.

Laos News Agency said a wall of water swamped six villages on Monday near the border with Cambodia, claiming several lives. Hundreds more were reported missing as 6,600 people lost their homes after the dam gave way.

Communist Laos is traversed by a vast network of rivers and several dams are being built or planned in the impoverished and landlocked country which exports most of its hydro energy to neighbouring countries.

Aerial footage, posted on the Facebook page of local news outlet ABC Laos, showed houses and jungle totally flooded. Another video showed families waiting for rescue on the rooftops of their homes, with a nearby Buddhist temple partially submerged.

Nearly 24 hours after the collapse, local authorities said that they were struggling to gauge the extent of the disaster. “We do not have any formal information yet about any casualties or how many are missing,” an official in Attapeu province, where much of the flooding occurred, told AFP on condition of anonymity. He said there was no phone reception in the flooded region.

“We sent in rescue teams who will help them and provide basic assistance first,” the official added.

The government in Thailand also said it would send rescuers to its northern neighbour.

The £1 billion dam was part of a project by Vientiane-based Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Power Company, or PNPC, a joint venture formed in 2012 between a Laotian, Thai and South Korean companies, according to the project’s website.