Landslide Hits Vietnam Army Barracks, 22 Soldiers Missing

Early on Sunday, a landslide left at least 22 soldiers missing in central Vietnam's Quang Tri province, the government said, as the Southeast Asian country is fighting the worst floods in years, reports Reuters.

Since the beginning of October, severe rains have triggered floods and mudslides that have killed at least 64 people in central Vietnam, with heavier rainfall forecast in the next few days.

The landslide hit the barracks of a unit of Vietnam’s 4th Military Region, the government said in a statement on its website, days after another landslide killed 13 people, mostly soldiers, in the neighbouring province of Thua Thien Hue.

“We had another sleepless night,” a visibly emotional Phan Van Giang, Vietnam’s deputy defence minister, told reporters on Sunday.

State media reports said water on rivers in Quang Tri province soared to the highest levels in more than 20 years on Sunday.

Rescuers continued to fight driving rain in Thua Thien Hue province as they searched for at least 15 construction workers missing and presumed dead in a mountainous area after a landslide at the beginning of the week.

Heavy rain of up to 600 millimetres will continue in parts of central Vietnam until Wednesday, Vietnam’s weather agency said on Sunday.