Two bodies were found and 11 others still missing Friday as residents searched the site desperately for any signs of life, many digging with simple tools and some using hands only their hands.
Residents along the Nuoc Vin River in Tra Giac Commune, Bac Tra My District, said downpours at around 10p.m. on Thursday pulled thousands of cubic meters of mud, rock and soil rock from a mountain above their village onto a mining camp and a nearby makeshift home. Witnesses said most of the site was under about two meters of earth.
Four of the victims from the first camp have been identified as Truong Van Dung, Vo Minh Vuong, Do Phung Quang and his wife Truong Thi Anh. The group had moved from Phu Ninh District in the same province five years ago to set up a farm and had been living in a shanty-like home near the mining camp when the mudslide occurred.
The other camp 100 meters away was occupied by ten gold miners from the northern Thanh Hoa Province. Miner Hoang Van Tung was spared as he was not in the camp at the time. However, Tung’s wife and two brothers are believed to be underneath the rubble. Another miner was seriously injured, but still alive.
Quang’s 54-year-old body was found at 4p.m. Friday with another unidentified body from the second camp was found at found at 6p.m.
The number of people killed by Mirinae-sparked disasters in central Vietnam has risen to 115 as of Friday, not including the 13 Quang Nam mudslide victims, with total damages caused by the storm now estimated to reach at least US$120 million.
Another 7 people were still missing across the country after the tropical storm made landfall Monday. Mirinae has so far left 72 people dead in the easternmost province of Phu Yen, the country’s worst-hit area.
Duong Van Huong, head of the provincial storm and flood committee, told AFP that river levels were receding Friday but rescue activities were being conducted by boat in certain hard-hit areas.
“Some 200,000 students in Phu Yen are still unable to go to school,” Huong said.
Mirinae also killed two people in neighboring Cambodia and left 27 people dead in the Philippines, where thousands are still living in evacuation centers after a series of deadly storms this typhoon season, AFP reported.
Reported by Ho Trong |
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