Rescuers arrives for 3,000 stranded after Laos dam collapse: media

SEKONG, Laos (Reuters) – Rescue teams from China and Thailand on a remote area of ​​landlocked Laos, where more than 3,000 people were stranded after a dam collapse in a swathe of villages, domestic media said.

The Vientiane Times, citing Governor Bounhom ​​Phommasane district, said about 19 people had been found dead. While nearly 3,000 had been plucked to safety, they were awaiting rescue, many on the rooftops of submerged homes.

A senior Lao government official told Reuters from the capital, Vientiane, that dozens were feared dead after the failure of the dam – a subsidiary structure on Monday.

(Map locating the collapsed dam in Laos: tmsnrt.rs/2JLQY4F)

"We will continue with rescue efforts today, but it is very difficult, the conditions are very difficult. Dozens of people are dead. It could be higher, "said the official, who has been identified to speak to the media.

A United Nations report on the disaster, with 34 missing, 1,494 evacuated and 11,777 people in 357 villages affected. It said 20 houses were destroyed and more than 223 houses and 14 bridges damaged by the flooding.

However, many of the villages were submerged in the Attapeu province, the southernmost part of the country.

State media exhibited pictures of villagers, with young children, stranded on roofs of submerged houses, and others trying to board wooden boats.

REMOTE LOCATION

Experts said the remoteness of the affected area could hamper relief operations.

"The roads are very poor," Ian Baird, a professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Laos expert, told Reuters by telephone.

"People do not usually go into that area during the rainy season. There are mountains that may be able to reach out … "

State media said a team of Lao and Chinese rescuers would reach Attapeu on Wednesday afternoon, and it showed a long line of cars with boats on the boat heading into the country of northeast Thailand. South Korea and Singapore also offered to help in the rescue effort.

Laos, one of the world's few remaining communist states of Asia's poorest countries, has ambitions to become the "battery of Asia" through the construction of multiple dams.

Its government depends almost entirely on the development of commercial concessions, which includes the power of Thailand.

Rights groups have repeatedly warned against the earth and the environment.

Attapeu is a province that borders Vietnam to the east and Cambodia to the south.

The dam that collapsed was part of the $ 1.2 billion Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy power project, which involves Laotian, Thai and South Korean firms. Known as "Saddle Dam D", it was part of a network of two main dams and five subsidiary dams.

RAIN MONSOON

The project's main partner, South Korea's SK Engineering & Construction, said part of a small supply company was cooperating with Laos government to help rescue villagers.

The firm blamed the collapse on heavy rain.

Laos and its neighbors are in the middle of the tropical storm. Lao state media also posted images of flash flooding, with buildings and roads under water, further north in Khammouane province.

An official at SK Engineering & Construction said fractures were discovered on Sunday as the evacuation of 12 villages as soon as the danger became clear.

Shares in Major Stakeholders of SK E & C fell on Wednesday. SK E & C's largest shareholder, SK Holdings Co Ltd ( 034730.KS ), was down 6.2 percent in its largest daily percentage loss since Feb. 11, 2016. The second-biggest shareholder, SK Discovery Co Ltd ( 006120.KS ), slid as much as 10 percent.

Laos expert Baird said the collapse of the subsidiary is unlikely to affect others in the project.

"The water's coming out of the reservoir now and the water levels are already going down but I do not think they'll be able to fix it until the dry season," he said.

Hydropower dams on the Mekong River's lower mainstream poses a serious threat to the region, International Rivers, which works to stop destructive hydropower projects in Laos, said in April.

Predicted impacts include a decrease of 30 to 40 percent in fisheries by 2040 and lower productivity in the lower Mekong Basin.

Laos has finished building 11 dams, says Thai non-government group TERRA, with 11 more under construction and dozens planned.