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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 25 July 2018

Flooding from Laos hydroelectric dam leaves hundreds missing

BANGKOK (AP) — Mas- Thailand being a major
sive flooding from a South buyer. KPL said the Xepian-
Korean-constructed hydro- Xe Nam Noy project cost
electric dam in Laos left an estimated $1.02 billion.
several people dead and Much of the financing
hundreds missing, state came from Thai lenders.
media said Tuesday. Res- According to the web-
cue efforts were underway site of the company that
as top government officials built and runs the dam, it is
rushed to the site and pub- majority-owned by SK E&C
lic appeals were launched and Korea Western Power.
for aid. The Ratchaburi Electricity
The official Lao news agen- Generating Holding Public
cy KPL said part of the Xepi- Co. Ltd. of Thailand holds
an-Xe Nam Noy hydropow- a 25 percent stake and the
er dam in southeastern At- Lao Holding State Enter-
tapeu province collapsed prise holds 24 percent.
Monday evening, releas- The dam was built to divert
ing large amounts of water the Houay Makchanh, Xe-
that swept away houses, Namnoy and Xe-Pian rivers
flooded villages and made into reservoirs that feed into
more than 6,600 people Villagers take refuge on a rooftop above flood waters from a collapsed dam in the Attapeu district a 410-megawatt power
homeless. of southeastern Laos, Tuesday, July 24, 2018. plant that is due to begin
The website of the state- Associated Press operations in 2019. q
run Vientiane Times news-
paper said two people Sunday night after several district to monitor rescue
were confirmed dead as of days of heavy rain. It said and relief efforts, KPL and
Tuesday afternoon and the the auxiliary dam consisted the Vientiane Times report-
government had declared mainly of earth and rock. ed.
the area an emergency SK E&C said repair work Provincial authorities is-
disaster zone. It said contin- was hampered by heavy sued a call for emergency
ued rain and strong winds rain, and damage to the aid — clothing, food, drink-
predicted for the next few dam worsened on Mon- ing water, medicine, cash
days could make the situa- day, causing water to over- and other items — from
tion worse. flow and flood seven out of the "party, government or-
KPL said the disaster "left 12 villages in the area. The ganizations, business com-
hundreds of people miss- company said it joined res- munity, officials, police and
ing," without providing de- cue efforts and was trying military forces and people
tails. to contain further damage. of all strata."
Many areas of Laos have Photos and videos posted Laos is one of the poor-
recently been hit by floods on social media showed est countries in Asia. It has
from heavy seasonal rains. people sitting on rooftops transitioned from commu-
The dam was built by a joint to escape the surging wa- nism to a market economy
venture led by two South ter, while others were car- but remains a single-party
Korean companies with ried to safety or rescued state where freedoms are
Thai and Lao partners, and by boat. State media said limited. There is virtually no
was still under construction. helicopters were also being freedom of the press, and
SK Engineering & Construc- used to rescue people. foreign reporters who visit
tion, one of the two South Prime Minister Thongloun operate under tight restric-
Korean partners, said in Sisoulith suspended his gov- tions, limiting the flow of in-
a statement that "part of ernment's planned Cabinet formation. Electricity from
the upper area" of one of meeting and traveled with several hydroelectric dams
five auxiliary dams at the fellow ministers and other provides a large share of
project "got swept away" senior officials to Sanamxay Laos' export earnings, with