17 bodies recovered in Laos floods
News & Trends •
rescuers have recovered 17 bodies after the flash floods caused by a dam breach in southern laos in thailand1 a wall of water was unleashed on monday after parts of the dam were washed away sending floods surging downstream sweeping away homes and leaving an unknown number of people missing1 there are 17 bodies recovered so far but we cannot estimate the number of missing yet chana miencharoen thai official said1 he adding roof-level flood waters have submerged several villages near the xe-namnoy dam1 all the dead are laotian more than 6000 are affected from eight villages near the dam he said from the relief centre in attepeu province where the disaster occurred on monday1 the remote area is only accessible by helicopter and flat-bottomed boats with roads badly damaged by the flash flooding or completely washed away1 communist laos is criss-crossed by a vast network of rivers and scores of dams are being built or planned in the impoverished and landlocked country which exports most of its hydropower energy to neighbouring countries like thailand1 the south korean partner in the hydropower project said wednesday it discovered the upper part of the structure had washed away 24 hours before it collapsed1 sk engineering1 we immediately alerted the authorities and began evacuating nearby villagers downstream it said in a statement1