Mekong floods claim 35 lives in Vietnam, Cambodia
HANOI - Thirty-five people, most of them children, have perished in floods ravaging the Mekong delta in Cambodia and southern Vietnam over the last several weeks, according to official tolls.
The Vietnamese provinces of Dong Thap, An Giang and Long An, situated along the Cambodian border, were severely hit by the floods, which are an annual feature the authorities are at pains to combat.
Nineteen people, all but one of them children, were killed as waters in the Mekong went above the danger level in An Giang, a provincial flood control official told AFP Friday, adding they would "continue to rise in the days ahead."
Earlier this week, Nhim Vanda, the head of Cambodia's national disaster management committee said 16 people, including seven children, had been killed along the Mekong since late July.
Thousands of people are displaced by the floods that regularly visit upon the Mekong region, home to tens of millions.
Agence France Presse - September 23, 2005.
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