The bodies of a married couple were found at the scene of a deadly landslide that occured in the early hours of Thursday in Da Lat – a major tourist hub in Lam Dong Province in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

The deceased were identified as Pham Khanh and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ven, both 43-year-old residents of Phu Yen Province who had been working in Lam Dong Province as construction workers.

Rescue efforts were still underway as of Thursday afternoon on Hoang Hoa Tham Street in Da Lat’s Ward 10, which the landslide blanketed at 2:30 am following three hours of heavy downpours.

A house and a makeshift camp where 20 construction workers had been staying are now buried under hundreds of metric tons of rock, earth, and debris.

Aside from the two workers being killed in the landslide, four other victims have been rescued and taken to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.

Nguyen Ninh, a 55-year-old native of Phu Yen Province, had been living in the makeshift camp when the landslide hit.

“I was awoken by an extremely loud noise but I had no idea what was happening. My co-workers and I immediately rushed outside and yelled for help,” Ninh said, adding that the landslide lasted just a few minutes.

Tran Van Hiep, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, visited the disaster site to direct the rescue operations.

The chairman also asked relevant agencies to review the licenses of all the buildings located in the landslide area and log any violations.

Speaking at a virtual meeting held following the incident, Hiep demanded that all facilities in landslide-prone locations throughout the province be examined.

Work on buildings that do not meet safety regulations must be suspended, he stressed.​

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