Vietnam typhoon death toll rises to at least 59 as bridge collapses and bus swept away

At least 59 people have been killed in Vietnam following a powerful typhoon that has swept away a bridge and a bus of people, and caused landslides.

Nine people died when Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Vietnam on Saturday before weakening to a tropical depression, and at least 50 others have died in the consequent floods and landslides, state media VN Express reported.

A passenger bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province on Monday morning. Rescuers were deployed but landslides blocked their path.

In Phu Tho province, rescue operations were continuing after a steel bridge over the engorged Red River collapsed Monday morning.

Reports said 10 cars and trucks along with two motorbikes fell into the river. Three people were pulled out of the river and taken to the hospital, but 13 others were missing.

Yagi has also cut power to millions of households and companies, flooded highways, disrupted telecommunications networks, downed a medium-sized bridge and thousands of trees, and brought economic activity in many industrial hubs to a halt.

The water levels of several rivers in northern Vietnam were dangerously high on Monday, while the meteorological agency warned on Monday of further floods and landslides.

Managers and workers at industrial parks and factories in Haiphong, a coastal city of two million, said on Monday they had no electricity and were trying to salvage equipment from plants where metal sheet roofing had been blown away, as more rain was expected.

"Everyone is scrambling to make sites safe and stocks dry," said Bruno Jaspaert, head of DEEP C industrial zones, which host plants from more than 150 investors in Haiphong and the neighbouring province of Quang Ninh.

The walls of a factory in Haiphong of South Korea's LG Electronics collapsed, according to pictures.

LG Electronics, a major maker of appliance and consumer electronics, said there were no casualties among its employees and acknowledged damages at its production site noting a warehouse with refrigerators and washing machines had been flooded.

"Lots of damages," said Hong Sun, the chairman of the South Korean business association in Vietnam when asked about the typhoon's impact on Korean factories in coastal areas.

A manager of leased factories confirmed widespread damages to roofs and prolonged power cuts in northern provinces.

A bridge in the province of Phu Tho collapsed on Monday, authorities said.

"This is normally a busy bridge, a key bridge in the province," a senior official of the province's transport department said, adding there were no reports yet on casualties.

Authorities said their initial investigations suggested there were eight vehicles on the bridge when it collapsed.

The weather agency warned of more floods and landslides, and said heavy rain and strong winds were expected late on Monday in the capital Hanoi, a city of 8.5 million people.

State-run power provider EVN said that more than 5.7 million customers lost power during the weekend as dozens of power lines were broken, but electricity was restored on Monday to nearly 75 per cent of those affected.

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