Rescuers in Vietnam are searching villages for dozens of people missing after a typhoon described by officials as the most powerful to hit Vietnam in 20 years triggered landslides, killing at least 35 people.
The state-run Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday that nearly two dozen people managed to escape in Tra Van and Tra Leng villages.
Dozens more are still unaccounted for in those communities in Quang Nam province, where houses were buried by landslides.
The news agency said rescuers uncovered eight bodies Thursday in Tra Van.
Officials fear the death toll will rise as regions cut off by storm damage become more accessible.
Typhoon Molave struck Vietnam late Wednesday with winds at 150 kph, killing more than a dozen fisherman and leaving several more missing.
People in the mountains of Quang Nam province are still trying to recover from landslides and floods that killed 136 people earlier this month.
Nguyen Hai Anh, the secretary general of Vietnam Red Cross, said the back-to-back disasters in central Vietnam have affected the lives of more than 7 million people, including just over 1 million people directly impacted by Typhoon Molave.
