Hope Fading For 93 Missing In China Landslide
Rescue workers have pulled 10 bodies out of piles of rock and mud and were still searching for 93 people after a massive landslide struck in southwestern China.
The mountain rock slip engulfed more than 40 homes and a hotel in the village of Xinmo in Maoxian county, Sichuan Province, around 6am local time on Saturday.
So far only three people – a couple and their one-month-old baby – have been rescued, and hope of finding survivors was fading.
A resident of the area, Han Jianying, said: “This is useless. Everyone’s going to be in pieces anyway.”
More than 2,500 rescuers – some digging with bare hands, some using detection devices and dogs – were looking for signs of life as industrial excavators removed rubble at the site.
China’s President Xi Jinping called on rescuers to “spare no effort”.
An estimated 105 million cubic feet of rock and mud – the equivalent of about 7,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools – slid from high up the remote mountainous area near to Tibet.
TV images showed police and residents pulling on ropes in a bid to dislodge large boulders, with bulldozers and large diggers also working to remove the massive rocks.
Water thick with mud was seen flowing over the site.
The landslide, believed to have been caused by heavy rains, has blocked nearly a mile-long stretch of road and part of a nearby river.
Local police captain Chen Tiebo said recent downpours in the region had triggered the slippage.
“There are several tonnes of rock,” he told state TV.
The area is also prone to earthquakes, with the lack of mountainside trees meaning excess water does not get absorbed as easily.
More heavy rain is forecast in parts of Sichuan Province, amid fears a dam is at risk of collapsing.
Wang Yongbo, one of the local officials in charge of rescue efforts, described it as the biggest landslide in the region since the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 – an 8.0 magnitude tremor that killed nearly 70,000 people.
