On September 14, under the chairmanship of Colonel Nguyen Dinh Cuong - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Commander of the Provincial Military Command, the Standing Agency for Search and Rescue and Civil Defense of the province met to deploy a plan to search and rescue the incident of the Phong Chau bridge collapse that occurred at 10:00 a.m. on September 9.

Colonel Nguyen Dinh Cuong - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Commander of the Provincial Military Command, assigned tasks for search and rescue.

Attending the meeting were representatives of leaders of several provincial departments and branches; Brigade 543, Military Region 2; Brigade 249, Ministry of National Defense; leaders of Lam Thao and Tam Nong districts.

At the meeting, Colonel Nguyen Dinh Cuong deployed the contents of the assignment of tasks in Document No. 3801/UBND-NCKS dated September 13, 2024 of the Provincial People's Committee on search and rescue of the Phong Chau bridge collapse incident.

Representatives of relevant departments, branches and units focused on discussing and agreeing on the implementation of coordination related to rescue work such as: Mobilizing forces, organizing the search for people, salvaging vehicles; identifying victims; ensuring security, safety, and traffic flow for forces to strengthen the implementation of tasks in the search area; ensuring accommodation, food, and areas for vehicles of units to strengthen the implementation of tasks; grasping the situation of installing pontoon bridges when ensuring the conditions allow.

Authorities deploy search and rescue plan in Lam Thao district

Colonel Nguyen Dinh Cuong emphasized that the search and rescue process will have many unpredictable situations, so participating units must coordinate closely during the implementation of the mission. The search force will be undertaken by the Army and Police; divers from the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department and 10 motorboats from the units will be mobilized to expand the search area downstream.

The Department of Transport proactively coordinates with functional forces to salvage vehicles; the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has a firm grasp of weather, hydrology, and the flow of the Red River, and regularly provides information to search and rescue forces.

The Provincial Military Command mobilizes forces on duty 24/7, ready to coordinate with relevant units to perform rescue and relief tasks. The process of salvaging and identifying victims ensures order for investigation, verification, security and safety.

Authorities deploy search and rescue plan in Tam Nong district

Colonel Nguyen Dinh Cuong also assigned the People's Committee of Tam Nong district to ensure logistics and coordinate with Lam Thao district to set up tents to serve the rescue of people and vehicles. Relevant units must carry out propaganda work well, so that people understand and coordinate with functional forces; absolutely do not let the victims' families arbitrarily carry out the search for victims.

Search and rescue work began on September 14.

Phu Tho Newspaper will continue to inform.

Huy Thang - Le Hoang