Vietnam army barracks hit by landslide, 14 soldiers dead, eight more missing
- Landslide sends rock and earth crushing into an army camp at the foot of a mountain
- Heavy rain has pounded the region for more than a week and at least 70 people have been killed
Fourteen soldiers are dead and a frantic search is under way for eight others after a huge landslide hit central Vietnam on Sunday, as the country battles its worst flooding in years.
Heavy rain has pounded the region for more than a week and at least 64 people have been killed in floods and landslides, according to Vietnam’s disaster management authority, with concerns mounting that waters could rise further.
Rocks rained down on the barracks of a military station in Quang Tri province, with 22 soldiers believed to have been buried underneath thick mud, an official government website said.
“From 2am, there have been four to five landslides, exploding like bombs and it feels like the whole mountain is about to collapse,” said local official Ha Ngoc Duong, according to the VnExpress news site.
Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, the army’s chief of general staff, warned there could be further landslides in the area and said rescuers needed to find a safer way to access the site.
Eleven bodies have been recovered so far, the government said.