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Twennty-two dead, three missing in Vietnam floods
HANOI (AFP) Dec 16, 2005
Floods sparked by torrential rains battering central Vietnam have left 22 people dead and three others missing this week, officials said Friday.

"The casualty figures were compiled in the last few days from Khanh Hoa and Binh Dinh provinces where 16 people died and three are still missing," said Van Phu Chinh, director of the regional flood control department.

Six more people died in other provinces in central Vietnam that were ravaged by the floods, he told AFP.

"Rivers in the seven provinces ... have risen to danger levels, hundreds of houses and tens of thousands of hectares of paddy fields are flooded," he said.

Chinh said he expected the rains to subside in the coming days after having caused millions of dollars' worth of damage.

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