Hats mixed in the mud

Mortar hats were left at the site of the terrible landslide

At 3 o’clock, a professional border guard dog whimpered and dug a mud hole with his forefoot. The bulldozer immediately crawled to pick up the area where the dog sniffed. Bulldozers and excavators move with great force in the middle of the pile of rubble, more than 1 m deep.

The group of people quietly dug through the excavator tracks, poking a large hole in the mud. Each step must be at the foot of a rock or branch. Because if you step out, the leg will sink to the knee.

The slip point is about 5,000m2 wide. This place is located in the middle of a valley, back completely without a steep cliff as many imagine. But this place is just a low, smooth mountain range. The location of Forest Management and Protection Station 67 is near a small cliff edge. All the mud and soil have been diverted to the forest management and protection station and dumped into the valley. The difficulty of finding is doubled, since many branches fall from the mud, they cross each other, forming a sheet hidden under the mud, creating tangles, hindering the search speed. .

In the middle of the giant mud, hundreds of soldiers with shovels in hand. But there were also some soldiers who silently with iron rods over 1 meter long explored each place, judging where their teammates were lying on the cold ground.

Right on the edge of the cliff, where the muddy creek pulled everything out of the valley, a few objects remained. Some life jackets, 3 mortars, iron chairs, some pieces of cloth. Objects that make everyone who passes by must look for a long time, those are the helmets that still star.

The path leading to the search point is located with 3 guard posts. Reporters do not have access to the scene. But the road from the center of Phong Xuan commune to the search point still contains many dangers. For about 20 km, the trees fell and broke. At many points along the way, rocks rolled to block, mud and water still falling down the road, the sound of murmurs down the ravine contained unpredictable disasters.

A forest guard pointed to a deep cliff and said, as long as it rains, the entire search team will be trapped in the forest and waiting for the helicopter to drop food to help. Because there are 2 underground crossings on this road, the water flows fast. Next to him was the red soil of the mountains that flowed down the road, ripping off the road surface and breaking into pieces, forming a pool hundreds of meters deep.

Before stepping on the giant clay, or returning from the mud, people would stop at the altar to light incense. The altar was placed next to a pile of trees sticking out of the mud. When the grout dries, the engineer will have to dig dirt, saw a tree to clear the search area.

Dig in the mud to find teammates