Hundreds of missing, many feared dead after the collapse of the Laos Dam

Hundreds of people are missing and several have died after the collapse of a hydroelectric dam under construction in southern Laos, which caused sudden floods that swept homes, reported Tuesday the official media.

The disaster left more than 6,600 people homeless, reported the Lao news agency. He showed images of villagers wading in muddy muddy waters carrying personal belongings. Others boarded rickety wooden boats or settled on the roofs of submerged houses.

Officials evacuated people in San Sai District, Attapeu province, where the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydroelectric dam is located. The company building the dam said that heavy rains and floods caused the collapse and that it was cooperating with the Lao government to help save the villagers near the dam.

"We are leading an emergency team and we are planning to help evacuate and save the inhabitants of the villages near the dam," a spokesman for SK Engineering & Construction told Reuters by telephone

. On Monday, tens of thousands of cubic meters of water were released and several hundred people are missing and houses were washed away, the Lao news agency reported. A video posted by the ABC Laos newspaper on its Facebook page shows villagers who stop to watch the water run off the river's edge.

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith suspended government meetings. and led cabinet members to monitor relief and relief operations in one of the affected areas, the state agency reported.

Communist Laos, one of the poorest and most secret countries of Asia, is landlocked and aims to become the "battery of Asia" by selling power to its neighbors through a series of hydroelectric dams. Environmental rights groups have long expressed concern over Laos' hydropower ambitions, including the impact of dams on the Mekong River, its flora and fauna, as well as rural and urban communities. the local economies that depend on it.

to start its commercial activities by 2019 and export 90% of its energy to Thailand under an electricity purchase agreement entered into between the Xe – Pian – Xe Namnoy Power Company and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).

The PNPC was established in 2012 by SK Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (SK E & C), Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. Ltd. (KOWEPO), Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Pcl Holding, the largest private electricity producer in Thailand, and Lao State Holding Company (LHSE).

Ratchburi Electricity Holding Holding Company said in a statement the dam, which he called "Saddle Dam D", measured eight meters (26 feet) wide, 770 meters (2 meters). 526 feet) long and 16 meters (52 feet) high.

The dam "was fractured and the water had flowed down and down.The Pian River, which is about five kilometers from the dam, said Kijja Sripatthangkura, chief executive of Ratchaburi Electricity Holding Holding Company

International Rivers said the accident has exposed "major risks" badociated with some dams. "Unpredictable and extreme weather events are becoming more prevalent in Laos and the region because of climate change, "said International Rivers to Reuters in an e-mail

" This also shows inadequate weather conditions. warning systems for the construction and operation of the dam. The warning appeared very late and did not allow people to be warned in advance to ensure their safety and that of their family, "the group said.