At around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, a sudden landslide sent soil and rocks from a mountain approximately 500 meters away from Nu Village in Bao Yen District, Lao Cai Province—home to the touristic city of Sa Pa—burying 37 houses with 158 residents and nearly flattening the entire surrounding area.
After the incident, locals managed to bring 17 people to hospital for emergency care.
Due to the village's remote location, 40 km from the district center and 120 km from Lao Cai City, and with transportation cut off and all communication lost following days of torrential rain brought by typhoon Yagi, trained rescue teams did not arrive on the scene until 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
Approximately 300 soldiers and 80 mobile police officers, along with hundreds of volunteers, have joined the search for missing villagers. A team has been assigned to assist with the burial of the deceased.
As of Thursday morning, eight more bodies have been found, raising the death toll to 43, with 52 villagers still missing.
The rescue forces are dividing the area into sections to search for the missing victims.
Rescuers waded through wet mud, surrounded by floating household items such as mats, blankets, refrigerators, and other personal belongings.
Soldiers remove debris from a structure to search for victims down a stream, approximately 2 km from the landslide site.
The soldiers are accelerating the search efforts, which were forced to halt around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday after another landslide occurred in the area. The mission resumed early Thursday morning.
According to authorities, the search operation could take several days due to the vast amount of earth and rocks that have collapsed, flattening houses and spreading debris over several kilometers.
A victim's body is placed on a stretcher, covered with a banana leaf by the rescue teams, and taken away for funeral arrangements.
According to local authorities, among the villagers, three are over 70 years old, 18 are under six years old, 14 are under 14 years old, and the rest are between 15 and 69.
Two women, who are neighbors, comfort each other as they wait anxiously for any sign of their family members.
A police dog is deployed to search for missing victims on Thursday morning. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Phuong
Typhoon Yagi entered Vietnam's waters on Sept. 3 and intensified into a super typhoon two days later, with maximum sustained winds reaching 201 kph. It made landfall on the northern coast last Saturday, bringing winds of up to 149 kph. It is the most powerful storm in Asia this year and the strongest to hit Vietnam in three decades.
Since making landfall, the typhoon and its aftermath have ravaged the northern region with torrential rains, flooding, and landslides, including in the capital city Hanoi.
As of Thursday morning, the death toll from the typhoon has climbed to 197, with 128 people still missing.
