Photo taken on July 27, 2018 shows villagers after an under-construction dam collapsed in Sanamxay District, Attapeu Province, Laos. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun)
VIENTIANE, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- A body has been retrieved and three severely injured died, bringing the death toll of the dam collapse in Laos to 34, a Lao official said on Sunday.
Ounla Xayasith, deputy governor of Attapeu Province, told a press conference in Sanamxay District of the province, where the incident triggered flash flood hitting villages downstream the Xe Pian River, that authorities were still trying to find some 100 people still missing.
Phalom Linthong, deputy director general of the General Political Department (GPD), Lao People's Army, said the body retrieved was a 3-month-old female infant.
He mentioned that a member of the newly-joined Singaporean rescue team was injured during the rescue operation, adding that the mud and the lack of equipment were still obstacles of the rescue.
Onphiew Phothilath, director of Attapeu province health department, said they had offered medical service to some 4,000 people until Saturday and three among them, although taking surgeries, died as they were severely injured.
Vithanga Phommachanh, director of energy and mine department of the province, told media during the press conference that of 13 villages affected by the floods, the power supply system in five had been completely destroyed.
They had been focusing on the power supply in shelters, hospitals, among others after the incident and they had finished the work to fix the power supply to four villages so far.
An under-construction saddle dam of the Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower project, invested by South Korean, Thai and Lao companies, collapsed on July 23, unleashing a large amount of water into some 13 villages of Sanamxay district.