By Agency Reports
Around 500 personnel and sniffer dogs have been mobilised for the search while relatives of the victims wait for news of their loved ones, next to a stack of coffins prepared for the deceased.
The death toll from Typhoon Yagi’s aftermath in Vietnam climbed to 254 on Friday as rescue workers recovered more bodies from areas hit by landslides and flash floods, local authorities said.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited the scene on Thursday, urging rescue workers to speed up and focus on finding the missing.
About 48 bodies were recovered as rescue workers continued the search for 39 others missing after a flash flood buried Lang Nu, a village in Lao Cai province, in mud and debris on Tuesday.
The latest figures come as flood waters from the swollen Red River in the capital, Hanoi, were beginning to recede.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, foreground right, visits as rescue work is underway after a flash flood buries a hamlet in mud and debris
However, many neighborhoods remained submerged, and experts predict that relief could still be days away.
Across Vietnam, 103 people are still listed as missing, and more than 800 have been injured.
“It’s a disaster. It’s the fate that we had to accept,” Tran Thi Ngan said as she mourned the death of her relatives, a family of three with a young child, next to their makeshift altar.
Badly damaged roads to the villages due to landslides also hinder the rescue efforts as heavy equipment can not be brought to the scene.
The landslide in Lang Nu is among several landslides in Lao Cai, the province with the highest number of casualties of 98 people.
In Cao Bang, another hard-hit province, 21 bodies were recovered on Friday, four days after a landslide edged off a bus, a car, and several motorcycles into a flooding stream. Rescuers are still searching for 10 others missing.
Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit Vietnam in decades. It made landfall Saturday with winds of up to 149 km/h. Despite weakening on Sunday, downpours continued and rivers remain dangerously high.
The United Nations Children’s Agency, UNICEF, said the storm and its aftermath have also damaged around 550 health facilities, 800 schools, and more than 100,000 homes, leaving more than 3 million people without access to safe drinking water.
It said it is working with the government and other partners to deliver bottled water, purification tablets, filtration systems, and other emergency aid to the hardest-hit areas.
Six killed in northern Thailand
Meanwhile, rescuers were assisting in evacuating people trapped by flooding in parts of northern Thailand, with footage showing people being guided across a raging torrent.
Overflowing rivers and landslides, attributed to the after-effects of Storm Yagi, led to widespread disruption across Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.
Six people were killed in Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai district when the heavy rain led to a landslide, according to the Bangkok Post.
The news outlet said another landslide in Mae Fah Luang district left one person dead, two severely injured and one missing.
© euronews.