More police officers equipped with professional diving equipment have been deployed to continue to search for the victims in the collapse of the Phong Châu Bridge (in the northern province of Phú Thọ), with seven victims still missing. Military personnel are also preparing the river bank to set up a pontoon bridge as temporary replacement when conditions allow. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The total number of fatalities and missing persons due to typhoon Yagi and subsequent floods and landslides in northern Việt Nam has decreased from 348 (reported in the morning of September 15) to 330, with 292 deaths and 38 missing persons.

The decrease is due to 18 missing people who turned up alive in two serious incidents in the two northern mountainous provinces of Lào Cai and Cao Bằng.

According to updates from the Department of Dyke Management and Disaster Prevention (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the mountainous province Lào Cai remains the hardest-hit locality, with 151 people dead or missing.

Bảo Yên District is the most severely affected area in Lào Cai, with 82 dead or missing from a disastrous flash flood that wiped out part of Làng Nủ hamlet with 128 residents of 37 households on September 10 morning.

Next is Cao Bằng with 57, Yên Bái with 54, and Quảng Ninh with 25 dead or missing. Other provinces and cities such as Hải Phòng, Hà Nội, Hòa Bình, and Bắc Giang also reported deaths due to floods and landslides.

Phú Thọ province reported a serious incident where the collapse of Phong Châu Bridge on September 9 morning left 1 dead and 7 missing. The body of the first victim, a 48-year-old woman, was just found on Saturday, at a location that is 10km away from the bridge.

Material damages from the typhoon and its aftermath were estimated roughly at US$1.6 billion and set to increase in the future, according to the assessment from the Ministry of Planning and Investment. — VNS