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Rain wreaks havoc in northern Vietnam |
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October 6, 2000
HANOI (AP) - A landslide and the destruction of a bridge by surging river currents in northern Vietnam have claimed more than 50 lives, state-run Vietnam Television reported Thursday. The accidents happened far from the ongoing tragedy of flooding in southern Vietnam, which has killed 280 persons, including 215 children. The landslide triggered by flash flooding buried an entire commune, killing 40 people and injuring 17 others on Tuesday night in the remote district of Sin Ho in Lai Chau province, Vietnam Television reported. The area bordering Laos is about 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of Hanoi. Authorities in the provincial capital of Dien Bien Phu didn't receive word of the accident until a telephone company messenger alerted them a day afterward. Officials have so far recovered only 10 bodies from the landslide and are continuing their search. The 40 people who were killed were all members of five families. About 90 percent of the homes in the commune of 397 people were completely buried by mud and rocks, the television report said. In a separate incident in another northern province, Bac Kan, strong river currents fueled by heavy rains swept away the structural supports from a suspension bridge early Wednesday morning, the television network reported. More than 20 people were swept into the raging Cau River near Bac Kan town, it said. Five people were rescued and 11 bodies recovered. Ten other people are still missing, authorities said. The tragedies occurred more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Vietnam's Mekong River delta, where several provinces have been inundated by overflowing rivers, affecting about 4 million people through loss of land, livestock, homes or lives. |