Krabi village swept away

Massive landslide destroys 100 households in Khao Phanom district; many still missing; Floods continue to wreak havoc; 710,000 now affected; Satun and Phuket get warning

Days of downpours yesterday triggered a leviathan landslide that swallowed up an entire village of about 100 households in Krabi's Khao Phanom district, leaving 10 residents reported dead and many more missing.

About 100 villagers have disappeared, according to news bulletins and the radio communications of rescue workers, while 42 victims including 12 children were injured. All of them were being treated at a local hospital. There were no official figures of missing residents as of last night.

Rescue and recovery efforts were launched but hampered by strong currents and debris that have blocked approaches to Ban Ton Harn Ville, which is still without electricity, running water and telephone service.

Elsewhere, 10 bodies have been found in addition to the 10 seen earlier at the village in tambon Na Khao, but only four of them have been retrieved because of the lack of access to the village.

GROUND SLID AWAY

Survivors said the waterlogged ground slid down nearby Benja Hill and swept through the entire 100-rai area at about 4am, when most villagers were sleeping. They were in no position to react to the emergency, even though Krabi was one of nine provinces subject to mudslide warnings.

Thirty survivors have taken refuge at Nam Rob Temple and up to 300 at Thep Phanom Temple and the village's community centre. They are all in need of water, food and clothing.

Rescue and recovery operations continued intermittently all day long because of the heavy rain.

The village and nearby areas reportedly saw sunlight for the first time after three days of driving rain and dreary skies.

A cooperative relief centre has been set up with assistance from the military to help with the mudslide at Ban Ton Harn Ville and those affected in two nearby tambon. The Army's barges are still useless because of the strong currents and high flood level.

A military truck was washed off a road while attempting to cross over a street with strong currents, but the driver was rescued.

About 50 households in neighbouring Plai Phraya district found themselves isolated after a main access route was made impassable by high water.

The latest mudslide warning, issued by the government's ad hoc relief centre, has expanded the number of areas at risk to 44 districts in 11 provinces.

Seven major reservoirs in the South - four in hardest-hit Nakhon Si Thammarat, two in Phatthalung and one in Trang - were reported at over-capacity.

The latest official damage report pegged the deaths at 11 and reduced the number of victims to about 710,000, from an original estimate of nearly a million, while warning of flooding in two other districts of Satun and Phuket.

'MORE DEATHS EXPECTED'

District chief Suphoj Chanakij gave a different figure for dead bodies retrieved. He said 10 bodies found outside the village had earlier been recovered and speculated there were more to come.

The identification of survivors is underway to find out who cannot be accounted for and to arrive at a total headcount of residents, whose number is not yet known.

A local relief official said there were about 10,000 people in 3,000 households in the four tambon affected in Krabi.

In Chumphon's Lang Suan district, a home in tambon Na Phya was engulfed by a mudslide from a nearby hill. Three residents barely managed to escape. Rocks and debris have kept falling from the hill as the rain continues.

Military personnel were searching for a missing village head in Surat Thani's Chaiya district, but the operation is running into difficulties from the torrential rains and frequent landslides. Some flood-affected villagers have been evacuated to a safe location.