Thai floods claim 73 as search intensifies

Thailand's rainy season brings regular floods, such as this one in 2000 that killed more than a dozen people

By staff and wires

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Officials began using dogs and heavy machinery Sunday in the grim search for further victims of a flash flood in northern Thailand which claimed at least 73 lives.

Scores of people were still unaccounted for after a pre-dawn flash flood Saturday morning swept down a mountainside through villages in Lomsak district of Phetchabun province, 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Bangkok.

The tragedy occurred as heavy rains caused flooding in many parts of the country's north and northeast.

"This morning we retrieved ten more bodies and several more bodies have been spotted, but we are still unable to pull them out because of the presence of heavy logs, wood and tons of dirt," Promchai Chaiwongnoi, a senior district official, told reporters at Lomsak on Sunday.

Many missing

As of noon (0500 GMT), 58 bodies had been recovered and identified, he said, adding that scores more people were on a list of the missing and some of them presumed dead.

State Radio Thailand reported 60 confirmed dead.

Piyarat Toopwong, a rescue official, told Reuters by telephone from the flood-hit area that 79 flood victims remain still missing.

"We are still searching ... and we believe that more bodies will later be found," the news service quotes Piyarat as saying.

Relatives of victims from nearby areas had reached the affected villages and were helping with rescue efforts, he said.

Heavy rains on Saturday morning caused muddy floodwaters to crash through villages, cutting off roads and trapping residents living in the area, 345 km (215 miles) north of Bangkok.

Residents displaced

More than 1,000 residents were displaced, said Charothorn Pakotr, director of the Civil Defense division of the Interior Ministry.

"We're still searching for more people and expect the toll will rise," he told The Associated Press late on Saturday. Officials said the flood hit at 4 a.m., damaging many houses and sweeping away others.

A local hospital said 40 people were admitted for hospitalization with water in their lungs and injuries to their chests and limbs from being swept away by the torrent.

At least 200 officials, police, soldiers and volunteers were involved in aid and rescue operations. Intermittently heavy rain continued during the day Saturday.

Flash floods during the rainy season, which lasts from June to October, are a perennial problem in Thailand.

Flood season

The problem has been exacerbated in recent years by massive deforestation, which has eroded the topsoil and vegetation that stem flooding.

Flooding also affected several major cities in the north and especially the northeast, where the Mekong River was overflowing its banks.

Problems were especially bad in Udon Thani, 290 miles northeast of Bangkok, where flights to the provincial airport had to be canceled.

Officials reported that more than 80 percent of the city was under 32 inches of water, and utilities and public transport had been cut.