Thirteen sleeping farmers and migrant
workers were killed late Thursday after landslides crushed their tents in the
mountainous district of Bac Tra My in central Quang Nam province.
The landslides, triggered by a typhoon
and floods which battered the central region of the country this week, claimed
the lives of four farmers and nine workers who were prospecting for gold in a
nearby stream.
The only survivor, Hoang Van Tung, told
Tuoi Tre his wife and three of his brothers working for a farm nearby
were all buried alive by the landslides.
Rock and soil of over two meters high
covered an area of over a thousand square meters at the foot of a mountain.
Tung is facing the lonely task of
digging up the area in search of his relatives’ bodies for burial at their home
town in the province’s Phu Ninh District.
The floods that came on the heels of
the typhoon Mirinae from Tuesday have so far claimed the lives of 115 people
till November 6, excluding the victims of this latest landslide.
Total property damages are estimated at
VND2,200 billion (US$122 million). Almost 27,000 houses were destroyed or
damaged; over 32,000 hectares of crops were also destroyed.
