Bangkok: Hundreds are missing and an unknown number feared dead after a partly built hydropower dam in southeast Laos collapsed after heavy rain and sent a wall of water surging through six villages, state media and contractors said on Tuesday.
Laos News Agency said the accident happened on Monday evening near the border with Cambodia, releasing five billion cubic metres of water — more than two million Olympic 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.
Communist Laos is traversed by a vast network of rivers and several dams are being built or planned in the landlocked country, which exports most of its hydropower energy to neighbouring countries like Thailand.
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 collapse local authorities said they were struggling to gauge the extent of the disaster.
“We do not have any formal 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. The Thai government said it would also send rescue experts to its northern neighbour.
The $1.2 billion dam is part of a project by Vientiane-based Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Power Company, or PNPC, a joint venture formed in 2012 between a Laotian, a Thai and two South Korean companies, according to the project’s website.
Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding, the Thai company, said it had been told by operators that a 770-metre-long auxiliary dam used to divert river water had failed after heavy rainfall.“The incident was caused by continuous rainstorm which caused high volume of water to flow into the project’s reservoir,” it said in a statement.
One of the South Korean companies, SK Engineering and Construction, said it had sent a crisis team to Laos, according to Yonhap news agency, and was bringing in helicopters from Thailand. The country has around 10 dams in operation, 10 to 20 under construction and dozens more in planning stages. — AFP
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