Body of fourth victim in Central Highlands landslide found

The landslide happened on the Bao Loc Pass near Da Lat City of the Central Highlands’ Lam Dong Province on Sunday, burying the Madagui traffic police station under rubbles, along with three police officers and once civilian.

Several vehicles and personnel were dispatched to the scene to remove hundreds of tons of rubbles, retrieve items and belongings under the wreckage, and rescue the victims.

The bodies of three police officers were found on Sunday evening, while the remains of the civilian victim were retrieved at around noon Monday.

Following long-lasting heavy rains, several locations on the Bao Loc Pass were found eroded Sunday afternoon, resulting in several landslides.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang came to the deadly erosion site on Monday, asking Lam Dong authorities to promptly deal with the incident's consequences, including organizing the funerals for the deceased and supporting their families.

Lam Dong has been seeing heavy rains for the past several days due to impacts of monsoon winds. On Sunday alone, rain poured from morning till noon on the Bao Loc Pass, with over 190 mm of rainfall recorded. The rain might have weakened the earth's foundation, causing the landslides, the province's weather forecast station said.

The incident happened a month after Da Lat recorded a landslide that buried seven people and killed two of them.