The tearful search in Nu Village

Three days after the particularly serious flash flood and landslide in Lang Nu village (Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province), 50 people are still missing.

Military forces are searching for missing victims in Lang Nu - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH

By 6:00 p.m. on September 12, authorities had found and identified 45 dead, 17 injured , and 46 safe.

Heartbreaking cries

On the second day of searching, the sun had cleared and the water in the stream flowing through Lang Nu village had receded. Under the rubble, Lao Cai province and Military Region 2 mobilized 650 people to the scene to search for the missing victims. The army, police, militia, and local people cordoned off the area, taking shifts to urgently wade through the deep mud, searching every tree and blade of grass to find the victims . Along with that, 11 officers from Border Guard Intermediate School 24 and 5 sniffer dogs went to the scene to assist in searching for the victims. In addition, the authorities used flycams to observe, support the search, and locate the missing victims. Many people whose relatives were still missing here came to the scene to monitor the search. On the morning of September 12, when the authorities announced that their daughter's body had been found, the heartbreaking cries of Ms. Dang Phuong Linh made the people around them ache. For the past two days, Ms. Linh has been at the scene waiting for news of her two young children who are in elementary school and her missing mother-in-law. Her relatives have always been by her side, encouraging her to try to overcome this pain.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh inspects Nu Village - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH

According to Linh, early in the morning of September 10, her family, including her mother, husband and two children, were sleeping in the house. When she woke up, Linh heard a loud explosion, looked up at Con Voi Mountain and saw a bright red color, then rocks and soil rumbled down. "This disaster is so terrible. It happened when my old mother and two young children were still sleeping," Linh choked up and cried, and with relatives followed the coffin to take her son to the burial place. After finishing the funeral for her daughter-in-law and two granddaughters, this morning, Ms. Hoang Thi Soi (58 years old) brought the portrait of her remaining granddaughter to the scene to search for information. Ms. Soi shared that out of her son's family of 5, only Mr. Hoang Van Nham (36 years old) was lucky to survive, and was found by locals at the end of the village. Mr. Nham is currently being treated at Bao Yen District General Hospital with a broken leg and multiple injuries. The remaining four people, daughter-in-law Hoang Thi H. (33 years old) and grandchildren Hoang Quynh M. (15 years old), Hoang Quynh L. (11 years old), Hoang Quynh L. (2 years old) died and are missing.

Ms. Hoang Thi Bong burst into tears when her husband was still missing under the rubble after the terrible flash flood in Lang Nu village (Lao Cai) - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH

"Until now, my 11-year-old niece has not been found. Now I just hope that she will soon return to her mother, sister, and brother. It is so painful and heartbreaking, my father is gone forever...", Mrs. Soi said, continuously looking out at the search area.

Following the search by the authorities, Mrs. Long Thi Hen continuously cried out for her daughter. "Your body has been lying in the mud for more than two days now, and we haven't seen it anywhere. I feel so sorry for you. Wherever you are, let everyone find you so you can come back to me, to your husband and children," Mrs. Hen cried. According to Mrs. Hen, the flash flood and landslide killed the entire family of her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild. Of which, the son-in-law and granddaughter were found by the people on the afternoon of September 10 and buried, but the daughter is still missing. According to the plan of the authorities including the army, police, and people, on September 13, they will continue to focus their forces and equipment to search for the remaining missing victims.

Police dogs were brought in to search for missing victims in Lang Nu - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH

Construction of Lang Nu village must be completed by December 31.

On the afternoon of September 12, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh personally went to the scene of the landslide in Lang Nu village to inspect the situation, check and encourage the forces that are searching for the victims there. On the way to the cultural house, the Prime Minister stopped his car and waded down to visit the search forces. The road from Bao Yen district to Lang Nu village (Phuc Khanh commune) is about 12km long, but the road is small and difficult to travel, with lots of rocks and soil due to the consequences of storm No. 3 and the circulation after the storm. Along with efforts to search for victims, the authorities are currently trying to repair the roads affected by the storm. Speaking at the meeting, the Prime Minister expressed his deep condolences to the families and relatives of those who died here. The Prime Minister requested to focus on carrying out a number of important tasks. In particular, he requested the forces to focus on searching for missing people. He suggested changing the search method to achieve the highest efficiency. For the injured, we must focus on treatment and provide full medical care. Along with that, we must clean up the environment. He said that when he went to the scene, he saw hygiene problems and had to ensure disease prevention. Regarding traffic, he suggested that it should be resolved soon and the education and training sector should quickly restore the facilities, ensuring that children can return to school as soon as possible. The Prime Minister also emphasized the need to restore production, business, jobs, and livelihoods for the people. In addition, we must encourage, share, and grasp the situation to see if there are any difficulties for the people to support. He requested to survey and plan safe locations with the participation of scientific opinions from specialized agencies to rebuild and restore Lang Nu village, ensuring that households have safe housing with suitable infrastructure. It must be completed by December 31, 2024 at the latest. In which, Lao Cai province will take the lead in implementing, if anything is missing, it will be reported to the Government; Apply special case mechanisms to handle related issues such as mobilizing engineering forces to rebuild villages. "By December 31, all survivors and households must have stable housing, electricity, water, places to play, trees, ensuring a safe and healthy living environment," the Prime Minister stated.

Quickly stabilize life and production

Ms. Ha Thi Nga, President of the Vietnam Women's Union, visits relatives of victims after the flash flood in Lang Nu village - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH

Previously, in the report, Lao Cai province proposed that the Government and the Prime Minister consider early support for funding to overcome the consequences of natural disasters in Lao Cai province to stabilize people's lives, restore production, and develop the socio-economy in the province. In the immediate future, it proposed to support 1,000 billion VND. Of which, support for repairing and renovating houses and auxiliary works serving people's lives is about 300 billion VND. Support for repairing and overcoming landslides of traffic routes, headquarters, schools, hospitals, and other public works is about 700 billion VND. Lao Cai province mobilizes local resources and the participation of people, businesses, and socio-political organizations to repair and overcome agricultural works, water supply, irrigation works serving production... to quickly stabilize the lives and production of people and businesses in the area...

Determined to stabilize the situation

Representative of Tuoi Tre newspaper presented 20 gifts to Ms. Tran Thi Thu - head of the front work committee of Lang Nu village - to deliver to the people - Photo: NGOC QUANG

Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee Trinh Xuan Truong said the flash flood that swept away most of Lang Nu village was a terrible incident. According to Mr. Truong, a total of 650 people from Military Region 2, police... are trying to search for missing victims. In recent days, Lao Cai has received support from many localities, organizations, individuals and has allocated resources reasonably. For now, the government is focusing on rescuing survivors and searching for missing people. For the remaining households, the government has evacuated them from unsafe areas. He said the province will survey an area of ​​20 hectares and will re-survey and re-evaluate all aspects to see if they are okay or not. If safety is guaranteed, a mechanism will be requested to quickly design and construct a resettlement area and rebuild new housing for the affected people. "We are determined to stabilize the situation, although it is still difficult, we will overcome it," said Mr. Truong. Previously, when talking with local people, the Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee emphasized that Lang Nu village was partially lost but the new Lang Nu village must be made better.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cuoc-tim-kiem-dam-nuoc-mat-o-lang-nu-20240913074902779.htm#content-2