Three police officers die in Central Highlands landslide

The landslide occurred at around 2:30 p.m. at a section of the Bao Loc Pass near Da Lat City in the Central Highlands' Lam Dong Province, burying the traffic police station that was located next to a high cliff. The three officers returned to the station to rest and have lunch when the incident happened.

A civilian was also buried in the landslide but has not been found.

Over 200 personnel from police and military forces were dispatched for search and rescue, together with around 20 vehicles and several equipment.

At the same time as the landslide happened, a 45-seat bus running on the pass was also carried away by dozens of tons of rubbles, causing it to ram into a barricade.

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 another landslide killed two people in Da Lat. The collapse of an embankment on June 29 buried seven people and damaged dozens of homes. Only five of the victims were found alive later. The embankment belonged to the construction site of a retaining wall.