Hanoi, Sept. 9, (dpa/GNA) – At least three trucks, two cars and numerous motorbikes plunged into the Red River in northern Vietnam in the wake of typhoon Yagi, authorities said on Monday, as the death toll from the storm rose to 59.
More than 3,000 houses have been damaged, 120,000 hectares of rice paddy fields inundated and more than 1,000 fisheries destroyed.
Phong Chau bridge, located in Phu Tho province nearly an hour north-west of Hanoi, collapsed at approximately 10 am (0300 GMT) on Monday morning, Phu Tho Province’s Transport Department said. Half of the bridge collapsed and the vehicles were swept away in the torrents below.
Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that authorities initially determined that about 10 vehicles, including cars and trucks, two motorcycles and 13 people were missing in the bridge collapse. However the total number of dead and missing is currently unknown, as the CCTV footage does not show how many people were in each vehicle.
The bridge collapsed after the area was battered by typhoon Yagi, which brought winds of over 100 kilometres per hour (kph) and more than 17 centimetres of rainfall over the weekend – the strongest to strike northern Vietnam in around 30 years.
Rising floodwaters and rapid torrents have been determined as the main cause of the bridge collapse.
Vietnam’s rescue forces are conducting an urgent search and rescue mission, said Lieutenant General Pham Duc Duyen, the political commissar of the area’s military region responsible for search and rescue at the scene. So far, four people have been rescued.
Mountainous northern provinces have been afflicted by landslides and there are still major power outages across the country. Typhoon Yagi battered Vietnam on Saturday before being downgraded to a tropical depression.
GNA