Three days after the particularly serious landslide in Phat village (Hung Son commune), the on-site search force is still on duty in extremely dangerous conditions, as rocks and soil continue to move and new "scrapers of mud" form right at their feet. The stories shared by soldiers at the scene show the harshness of nature and the tireless efforts of the rescue team.
From the first day of the incident, the local search team approached the buried area. Each step is heavily sandwiched between a thick layer of mud and a strong, moist smell of dirt.
At many times, the force approached the suspected location of the person being stuck, but were forced to withdraw from the scene when the local loudspeaker system continuously issued warnings: "Return, quickly return, the soil is still sliding down there, running, running away...". The whole team of more than 10 people running on the network turned up and breathed a sigh of relief.
According to the force at the scene, in just a few hours, there were many more explosions coming from the ground, accompanied by large lines of rock and soil continuously sliding down. The giant block of rocks and soil sliding like a newly formed mudflow, with mud in some places more than half a person's body, and many sections of forest trees falling apart, just a slide can be swept away.
Not only humans but also domestic dogs have difficulty when mud pulls them tightly step by step, forcing them to turn back because they cannot go further. The machinery system was put into operation, but many times it had to be temporarily stopped because the mud surface shook just a slight shock.
"Sometimes I felt helpless, just a few dozen meters from a suspected buried place but could not get there. It is also difficult to bring domestic dogs in, the mud pulls their legs back, they barking and turning around because they cannot go further," the search team shared.
Along the edge of the scene, people in Pham village have been on duty for many days. Many people were up all night, their eyes red, looking towards the landslide site. According to the on-site force, an elderly man stood for hours, sighed in local English, begging to find the victims.
At the scene, any items, shirt pieces or pieces of wood exposed under the mud caused the search team to stop and check carefully. No one knew it was just an unknown item or a sign of a missing person. The rescue force was forced to work slowly and carefully so as not to miss any clues.
People in Pha village said that they only hope that the authorities will soon find the victims to bring them home to their warm families. That message was recorded by the search force and considered the biggest motivation during the working days in the deep mud field with no bottom.
When the fog fell and the flashlights turned on, the calls in the middle of the scene still rang. The State, local authorities and rescue forces are mobilizing maximum human resources, specialized means and supplies to speed up the search in extremely complex weather and terrain conditions.
According to the search force of Hung Son commune, they will continue to be present at the scene in the hope of finding the unfortunate victims as soon as possible - to bring them back to their families.
