A starving baby was rescued from an abandoned building more than a week after the Laos dam tragedy left at least 31 dead.

The dehydrated youngster was found by ‘miracle’ by American father-of-four Michael Alfaro.

The 33-year-old travelled to Attapeu province from Plainfield, Illinois, to volunteer after scores were killed and thousands left homeless in flash floods that swamped the area on July 22.

The baby was found in an abandoned building (Picture: ViralPress)

The baby was treated by doctors and is now on the mend (Picture: ViralPress)

The floods wiped out entire villages when a wall at the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam collapsed after heavy monsoon rains, sending millions of tonnes of water downstream as far as Cambodia.


Thousands of people are now taking shelter in rescue camps while many more remain stranded or dead in their villages.



Michael was surveying a village his team were told human traffickers were targeting when he found the ‘almost dead’ naked, crying baby boy.

The youngster was starving and dehydrated in an abandoned building in Sanamxai, a small river town on the Xe Khong River.

Michael Alfaro travelled to Laos to help with the rescue effort (Picture: ViralPress)

The baby was on an emergency IV drip (Picture: ViralPress)

Michael said the baby was ‘nearly unconscious’ and his ‘eyes rolled back’ when he tried to rouse him.

Michael, a former US marine, carried the baby alone in sweltering heat for more than 1km to the nearest doctor where the infant was treated with two emergency IV drips.

Speaking over the weekend, Michael said: ‘This was a miracle. I was just in the right place at the right time. A few hours longer and the baby may not have survived.

‘I checked on him after a couple of hours and he’s doing well. He’s going to be just fine.’

Michael said estimates on the ground are that at least 1,000 people are dead or missing.

An aerial view of the flooded plains in Attapeu province (Picture: AFP)

The accident happened at a dam in southeastern Attapeu province late last night (Picture: EPA)

Homes were left completely under water (Picture: AFP)

Describing the rescue, he said: ‘I had joined with Chinese rescue teams and were told about an area that human traffickers and kidnapper were targeting. I went there to scan the surroundings.

‘I saw what looked like an empty building and wasn’t expecting to see people inside. I thought it was best to check and there was the baby on the ground in a blanket.

‘He was very weak, he had a fever of about 38 degrees. He was malnourished, dehydrated and he hadn’t eaten for three or four days.

‘His mother was also in the same building in a different place. She was weak and hadn’t eaten and the baby’s older brother and sister were with her. But the baby had been left alone away from them.’

The dam gave way yesterday (Picture: Nickdallshir)

It is not yet known if anyone is trapped (Picture: Nickdallshir)

Michael said that the baby’s mother had been sheltering in the abandoned building with her three children.

Tragically, the woman’s husband and father of the children is believed to have died in the floods.

Michael said the baby has ‘recovered’ and is healthy, but warned many children have been separated from their parents.