INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Laos Dam Collapse: A Thai consul said 17 bodies were recovered after the Laos dam collapseChampasak, Laos: The bodies of 17 people have
been recovered after flash floods caused by a dam breach in southern Laos, a Thai consular official at the scene told AFP Wednesday.A wall
of water was unleashed Monday after parts of the dam were washed away, sending floods surging downstream, sweeping away homes and leaving an
unknown number of people missing."There are 17 bodies recovered so far, but we can not estimate the number of missing yet," Chana
Miencharoen, said, adding roof-level flood waters have submerged several villages near the Xe-Namnoy dam."All the dead are Laotian more than
6,000 are affected from eight villages near the dam," he said, from the relief centre in Attepeu province, where the disaster occurred on
Monday.The remote area is only accessible by helicopter and flat-bottomed boats, with roads badly damaged by the flash flooding or
completely washed away.Communist Laos is criss-crossed by a vast network of rivers and scores of dams are being built or planned in the
impoverished and landlocked country, which exports most of its hydropower energy to neighbouring countries like Thailand.The South Korean
partner in the hydropower project said Wednesday it discovered the upper part of the structure had washed away 24 hours before it
collapsed.SK Engineering Construction said it discovered the damage to an auxiliary dam at around 9:00 pm Sunday local time."We immediately
alerted the authorities and began evacuating (nearby) villagers downstream," it said in a statement.(Except for the headline, this story has
not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
