The International Monetary Fund forecast growth in the Gulf region to average 2.4% in 2024
The Vientiane Times, citing district governor Bounhom Phommasane, said about 19 people have been "found dead", more than 3,000 "require rescue" and about 2,851 have been saved.
Earlier, a senior Lao government official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said dozens of people were feared dead after the hydropower dam that was under construction collapsed on Monday.
"We will continue with rescue efforts today but it's very difficult, the conditions are very difficult. Dozens of people are dead. It could be higher," the Vientiane-based official told Reuters by telephone.
Hundreds were reported missing after walls of water washed away villages and rescuers on Wednesday continued to search floodwaters for survivors, a government official said.
State media showed pictures of villagers, some with young children, stranded on the roofs of submerged houses. Others showed villagers trying to board wooden boats to safety in Attapeu province, the southernmost part of the country.
At least seven villages have been submerged. State media pictures showed one-storey homes flooded with muddy water.
The remoteness of the affected area could hamper relief operations, say experts.
Laos, one of the world's few remaining communist states and once of Asia's poorest countries, has an ambitious dam-building scheme in order to become the "battery of Asia".
Attapeu is a largely agricultural province that borders Vietnam to the east and Cambodia to the south.
South Korea's SK Engineering & Construction said part of a small supply dam was washed away and the company was cooperating with the Laos government to help rescue villagers near the site.
The firm blamed the collapse on heavy rain. Laos, and its neighbouring countries, are in the middle of the monsoon season when tropical storms and heavy rain can lead to flash floods.
An official at the firm said fractures were first discovered on the dam on Sunday and that the company had ordered the evacuation of 12 villages as soon as it became clear the dam could collapse.
Shares in major stakeholders of SK Engineering & Construction fell on Wednesday after news of the collapse.
SK E&C's biggest shareholder, SK Holdings Co Ltd, was down 6.2 per cent, marking its biggest daily percentage loss since February 11, 2016. The second biggest shareholder, SK Discovery Co Ltd, slid as much as 10 per cent.
REMOTE LOCATION
"I don't think its going to affect the other dams," Baird told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The International Monetary Fund forecast growth in the Gulf region to average 2.4% in 2024
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