Soldiers search for the victims at what used to be the Rào Trăng 3 Hydro-power Plant. — Photo: tienphong.vn

THỪA THIÊN - HUẾ — Rescue forces discovered the body of a worker at the Rào Trăng 3 Hydro-power Plant in Phong Điền District on Friday morning in the central province of Thừa Thiên Huế.

The body was found in a waterway that runs through the Hương Điền Hydro-power Plant reservoir in Hương Bình Commune, Hương Trà Town. It is estimated that it will take about five and a half hours to transport the body from the scene to Bình Điền Commune, Hương Trà Town.

The body will be handed over to the family after local agencies have confirmed the identity.

A landslide that occurred on Monday at the Rào Trăng 3 Hydro-power Plant left 17 people missing. Two bodies have been recovered so far.

Eight workers who luckily escaped the disaster are co-ordinating with rescue forces to identify the exact area the workers went missing.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, on behalf of the Government, has sent his deepest condolences to the families and relatives of officers and soldiers, who were buried by a landslide, on their way to Rào Trăng 3 Hydropower Plant on a rescue mission in Thừa Thiên Huế Province on Tuesday.

The condolences were included in a message sent to the Ministry of National Defence, the provincial People’s Committee and relevant agencies on Thursday.

Following the message, Phúc told the ministry and the committee to visit and support the families and relatives of the officers and soldiers, who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. The ministry and committee were also ordered to prepare the funeral ceremony for the officers and soldiers.

The identities of the 13 officers and soldiers, most of them high-ranking officers, were confirmed on Thursday evening.

PM Phúc also tasked the ministries of national defence and transport to co-operate with the committee and relevant agencies to mobilise all forces to find the missing workers of Rào Trăng 3 Hydro-power Plant.

The ministries and agencies were ordered to ensure safety for the soldiers on rescue missions.

The message also warned that currently, a new tropical low-pressure system was forming in the East Sea.

It has begun to cause torrential rain in the central region, including the areas where the soldiers are.

Therefore, PM Phúc required all agencies to closely watch the developments of the tropical low-pressure system and prepare plans to cope with it, ensuring safety for local people and property.

According to the provincial People's Committee, heavy rains are forecast to hit the province in the coming days, so their plan to travel by boat from the Hương Điền Hydro-power Plant reservoir to the Rào Trăng 3 Hydro-power Plant has been cancelled.

Instead they plan to follow provincial road 71 with a military vehicle carrying army engineers forces to open the way to the scene.

PM Phúc on Friday morning visited the Military Region 4 of the Việt Nam People’s Army in central Nghệ An Province to encourage and praised its staff who have spared no efforts over the past days to help people in flood-hit areas. 

The Party Central Committee’s Secretariat sent a message on Friday to order provinces and cities to strengthen natural disaster prevention and overcome the consequences of rains and floods in central provinces.

The message said a tropical low pressure system was forming in the East Sea on Friday morning and could develop into a storm, bringing heavy rains to central provinces. The secretariat told flood and storm-hit provinces and cities to focus on dealing with the aftermath and helping local residents return to normal life quickly.

As of 9pm on Thursday, heavy rains and floods destroyed 649 houses and submerged 150,685 others, and damaged 168 National Highway sites and 33,639 metres of roads in central localities.

Up to 900ha of rice and 5,514ha of other crops have been inundated, and 3,978ha of aquatic farms have been damaged. Some 445,700 heads of poultry and animals have been swept away or killed by floodwater. — VNS