Hundreds are missing and an unknown number feared dead after a partly built hydropower dam in southeast Laos collapsed after heavy rain and sent a wall of water surging through six villages, state media and contractors said Tuesday.
Laos News Agency said the accident happened on Monday evening near the border with Cambodia, releasing five billion cubic metres of water -- more than two million Olympic swimming pools.
The agency said there were "several human lives claimed, and several hundreds of people missing" while some 6,600 people had been made homeless as authorities scrambled to evacuate villagers.
Communist Laos is traversed by a vast network of rivers and several dams are being built or planned in the impoverished and landlocked country, which exports most of its hydropower energy to neighbouring countries like Thailand.
Aerial footage posted on the Facebook page of local news outlet ABC Laos showed a vast brown inundation swamping houses and jungle alike over a huge area.
Another video showed families waiting for rescue on the rooftop of their house, with a nearby Buddhist temple partially submerged.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament today that the suspect in the rape of a lady doctor at the Anuradhapura teaching hospital has been identified as an army deserter and he will be apprehended shortly.
Police have arrested the suspect connected to the sexual assault on a female doctor at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital today morning in Galnewa.
The Dutch Public Prosecutor suspects two companies of paying bribes in the construction of hospitals in Sri Lanka, according to an investigation by FD, the Dutch financial newspaper.
The Minister of Power, Kumara Jayakody, stated that in the future, internationally funded projects, such as power projects, will only be carried out through government-to-government (G2G) agreements and competitive procurement.
The Government today tabled in the House the Report of the Commission to Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Unlawful Places of Detention and Torture Chambers in the Batalanda Housing Scheme.
Israel, a major player in the global diamond and jewellery trade, has invited Sri Lankan gem and jewellery businessmen and designers to collaborate with Israeli diamond traders.
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