Hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers were searching yesterday for dozens of people feared buried alive when part of a mountain collapsed in a massive landslide in southwest China, officials said.
Some 74 people were still missing after the disaster struck on Friday afternoon in a mining district of the vast Chongqing municipality, a spokesman for the municipal government said.
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang (張德江) arrived at the site early yesterday to supervise the rescue effort and comfort relatives of the victims, TV images showed.
Eight people have been rescued from the debris, with three seriously injured and one of those in critical condition, local officials said. They were all taken to hospital.
The landslide occurred in the remote mountainous region of Jiwei in Wulong District. More than 3.5 million tonnes of mud and rock crashed hundreds of meters down into the valley, burying houses and a working mine, according to estimates quoted by official media.
Twenty-seven miners were working in the mine at the time of the landslide.
Emergency workers quoted by Xinhua news agency said they were hopeful of rescuing all the miners, unlike victims who were on the surface, who were hit by the debris.
Around 500 rescue workers were dispatched from neighboring districts to help 400 firefighters, police and other personnel, particularly medical staff, deployed by authorities, the local communications department said.
Emergency staff with dogs were combing through the rocks and debris of houses in the hope of finding more survivors.
In total about 1,500 people have joined the rescue effort, the Chongqing Daily reported.
The authorities were also concerned about the threat of flooding in the region after the landslide blocked the Wujiang, a tributary of the Yangtze, Xinhua said.
An investigation has begun into the cause of the disaster, which also cut power lines and communications in several areas.
Last September, at least 277 people were killed in Shanxi Province by a massive landslide caused by the collapse of a reservoir of mine waste.
Government investigations found the collapse at the unlicensed mine was caused by negligence and 113 people were punished in connection with the disaster, state media reported in April.
China’s mining industry is one of the most dangerous in the world. In the latest accident, seven miners were killed in a gas leak at a mine in Xinjiang, Xinhua said yesterday.
Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in China’s coal mines last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese