Hundreds missing as Laos dam collapses

Bangkok: Hundreds of people are missing and an unknown number believed dead after a partly constructed hydropower dam in south-east Laos collapsed, sending flash floods surging through six villages, state media reported.

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

Laos News Agency said the accident happened on Monday evening at a dam in the country’s far south, close to the border with Cambodia, releasing five billion cubic metres of water – more than two million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The agency said there were “several human lives claimed, and several hundreds of people missing” while some 6,600 people had been made homeless as authorities scrambled to evacuate villagers from the devastation.

Aerial footage posted on the Facebook page of local news outlet ABC Laos showed a vast brown inundation swamping houses and jungle alike over a huge area.

Another video showed families waiting for rescue on the rooftop of their house, with a nearby Buddhist temple partially submerged.

Nearly 24 hours after the dam’s collapse local authorities said they were struggling to gauge the extent of the disaster.

“We do not have any information yet about any casualties or how many are missing,” an official in Attapeu province, where much of the flooding occurred, said on condition of anonymity, adding that was “no phone signal” in the flooded region.

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

A Thai company involved in the hydropower project confirmed that a 770m-long auxiliary dam used to divert river water had failed after heavy rainfall.

“The incident was caused by continuous rainstorm which caused a high volume of water to flow into the project’s reservoir,” Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding said in an English language statement.

The US$1.2bil (RM4.9bil) dam is part of a project by Vientiane-based Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Power Company, or PNPC, a joint venture formed in 2012.

South Korea’s Korea Western Power and the state-run Lao Hold­ing State Enterprise are also invol­ved in the joint venture. — AFP