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| Rescuers search for victims buried by the landslide in Ha Giang province on July 13. (Photo: VNA) |
In an official dispatch sent to relevant ministries and a number of northern mountainous localities, the leader extended his deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and requested preparedness for rains, floods and landslides in the time ahead.
He asked the People’s Committee of Ha Giang to coordinate with their counterparts of Cao Bang and Lai Chau provinces, and other localities and agencies to continue handling landslide consequences and seeking the missing (if any), while supporting the families of the deceased.
The committee needs to instruct competent agencies in the province to determine the causes of the landslide, and ensure traffic safety, the PM said.
He asked Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Tuyen Quang, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen and Lang Son provinces to promptly identify landslide-prone areas to work out evacuation and response plans.
In the dispatch, the leader assigned specific tasks for the ministries of public security, agriculture and rural development, natural resources and environment, transport, construction, industry and trade, and national defence.
Notably, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development was urged to set up working groups that will coordinate with localities in this regard.
Ha Giang’s authorities reported that at around 4am on early July 13, the 15-seater mini bus carrying 16 people was passing through National Highway No. 34 (Km 10 900 in Bac Me district’s Yen Dinh commune) when it encountered a landslide.
When the passengers got off the vehicle to help push it through the landslide, thousands of cubic metres of land from above rushed down the road, burying the vehicle and its passengers.
The province’s police and military quickly deployed hundreds of personnel to the scene to rescue the victims.
The local Department of Health also deployed mobile medical stations at the scene to treat the buried victims and transport them back to the provincial general hospital.
By 3:00p.m., rescue teams had pulled 15 people out of the mud, including 11 dead and four others critically injured. Among the dead was a boy, local media reported.
Excavators are deployed to clear the scene as authorities are still working to rescue the victims./.