Dozens of foreign and domestic tourists trapped by flood in the northern province of Lao Cai on Friday have been rescued safely later the same day.
Some 70 tourists were stuck in a section of the 4D National Route connecting the provincial capital of Lao Cai City and Sa Pa District, as a flash flood swept through, cutting off many parts of the street with landslides and inundation.
As of the end of Friday, all of the tourists, including more than 40 foreigners, were rescued and taken to central Sa Pa, according to newswire VnExpress.
Ha Quoc Trung, a top tourism official in Lao Cai, said that local authorities had dispatched vehicles to carry the trapped visitors away from the site to local hotels, adding that they were also given free food and drinks.
The Sa Pa District administration also urged competent agencies and local tourism businesses to support visitors in the district and provide them with transport means.
The Friday flash flood, resulted from the circulation of storm Nida earlier this week, swept away 20 houses, submerged over 200 dwellings, and destroyed over 10,000 hectares of rice and other cultivars, local officials said.
The flood left three children dead and seven missing.
According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, northern mountainous areas in Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Son La, and Yen Bai provinces will keep being soaked in rain as high as 70 millimeters with landslides and flash flood anticipated on Saturday evening.
