Flooding near Vietnam's Halong Bay kills 14
AFP
July 28, 2015, 9:26 pm
Hanoi (AFP) - At least 14 people have been killed in the worst flooding for 40 years in Vietnam's northern Quang Ninh province, home to the UNESCO-listed Halong Bay tourist site, officials said Tuesday.
Three more people were missing and a number of local tourists remained stranded on nearby Co To island, which is cut off from the mainland due to torrential rain, according to a local disaster relief official.
"We have no information on any foreign tourists that may have been stuck in affected areas," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Of the 14 dead, a woman and two children were discovered drowned in a flooded house, he told AFP, with many residential areas in Halong City still under water after the province was hit by more than 500 millimetres (20 inches) of rain on Sunday alone.
Thousands of soldiers have been mobilised to help local residents evacuate flooded areas as well as districts hit by landslides trigged by the rains, Quang Ninh province's official website said.
The recent torrential downpour has been the heaviest and caused the worst flooding in more than 40 years, it said.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site Halong Bay, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of the capital Hanoi, is one of Vietnam's top tourist attractions and is known for its stunning limestone cliffs.
Vietnam is regularly hit by up to a dozen tropical storms and typhoons every year, but so far in 2015 it has not been directly affected by any major storms.
