Two workers are confirmed missing after being swept away following a hydroelectric dam accident in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam, officials have said.

Up to twenty more are also of unconfirmed whereabouts after also being caught up in the incident on Tuesday.

A diversion dam at the Bung River 2 hydroelectricity plant, located in Nam Giang District, suffered a failure in the evening, causing two construction workers to be washed away by a flash flood.

Downstream, about 22 local villagers were working their farms at the time of the incident, of whom only two have been confirmed to have returned, with the others’ well-being unknown after they could not be contacted by their families.

According to A Lang Mai, chairman of the People’s committee in Nam Giang, about 28 million cubic meters of water was released at once due to a break in the dam.

Thanks to the help of local officers, about 400 households were evacuated and were able to avoid the flash flood, however not everyone was as lucky.

Search and rescue teams are currently working around the clock watch to provide immediate assistance to any potential victim, Mai added.

Damaged vehicles and equipment, along with debris caused by the flash flood following the dam pipeline failure. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Ngo Viet Hai, director of  Power Generation Corporation 2 under Vietnam Electricity (EVN), the developer of the project, said that the accident happened at around 4:25 pm.

As a result of recent heavy downpours, a failure occurred along the diversion tunnel of the hydroelectric project because of the large volume of water flowing from upstream, Hai explained.

“Most workers had been warned of the danger and evacuated. Unfortunately, two of them could not make it in time,” the director said.

He added that the exact cause of the accident is yet to be confirmed because of the rapid torrent of the river still impacting the pipeline.

The Bung River 2 hydroelectric dam is designed to create a capacity of 100 megawatts, and is considered one of the largest dams in the province.

The project began construction in late 2012 and is expected to be put into operation later this year.

Local officers plan the rescue of the missing workers. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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