The death toll from a landslide that impacted a village near Nha Trang in south-central Vietnam on Tuesday morning has risen to four, with authorities confirming search and rescue efforts had ended later the same day.

The disaster submerged 11 low-lying houses in mud, just below the mountain in the Phuoc Trung Village of Phuoc Dong Commune, while all those inside were sleeping.

The four deceased victims are a 58-year-old woman and her four-year-old grandnephew, and a mother and son, whose bodies were buried so deep in the rubble they were only found more than 12 hours after the incident.

Three other villagers were also severely injured.

Phuoc Dong is some 12km southwest of the center of Nha Trang.

Nha Trang chairman Nguyen Van Danh said people began living in the village at the foot of the Da Hang Mount in 1987.

Nguyen Thi Lien, a resident of the village, said they had never experienced rockfall or a landslip for several decades until a few years ago, when local people and businesses began stone excavations at the mountain.

“They took stone from the foot of the mountain, so it was going to collapse, sooner or later,” she said.

Another villager, Tran Van Tuan, who relocated to Phuoc Loc ten years ago, said he had noticed signs of a possible landslide on Monday and immediately reported it to authorities. “But the accident occurred before no action had been taken,” he said.

Tuan said local villagers acknowledged the constant risk of landslides, so they came up with a simple ‘self-protection measure’: “We always leave our doors open so that when the disaster comes, we can leave our homes as soon as possible.”

It helped many escape just in time on Tuesday, Tuan said.

In related news, a landslide also occurred in the central province of Quang Ngai on Tuesday, isolating an entire commune with a population of 2,100 people from the rest of the province.

Rockfalls from the mountain blocked all traffic leading to Son Long Commune in Son Tay District, and completely destroyed the home of one villager. There were no casualties reported.

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