Global General

Death toll from Vietnam floods hits 75

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-22 14:35

HANOI - Disaster officials say the death toll from severe flooding in central Vietnam has risen to 75.

Catholic priest Anthony Tran Van Minh (4th L) reads a sermon next to the the bodies of a passengers of a bus, which was submerged by heavy flooding, from a river in Vietnam's central province of Ha Tinh October 21, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

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Officials said Friday that 16 more bodies were retrieved from flooded areas across four provinces. A day earlier, rescuers pulled nine bodies from a bus hoisted from the bottom of the Lam River, where it was swept by floodwaters. The bodies of five other passengers on the bus were also fished from the river Thursday.

Six passengers are still missing and presumed dead. Eighteen managed to escape.

The region has been slammed by 55 inches (140 centimeters) of rain over the past week, inundating large swaths of land in the three worst-hit provinces, submerging nearly 280,000 houses and forcing more than 170,000 villagers from their homes.