At least five people were found dead and more than 120 remained missing hours after a massive landslide yesterday buried a mountain village in southwest China as rescuers scoured through rocks for survivors.
A couple and a baby were rescued and taken to hospital after dozens of homes in the village of Xinmo were swallowed by boulders when the side of a mountain collapsed, the local Maoxian government said.
A fourth survivor was found, but rescuers were still trying to get to him hours after heavy rain triggered the avalanche in Sichuan Province, officials said.
Photo: AP
Wu Xiaobin, captain of the local fire department, told China Central Television (CCTV) that five bodies were pulled from the rubble.
The early morning landslide, which occurred following heavy rains in the region, struck 62 homes and blocked a 2km stretch of river and 1.6km of road, state media said.
Rescuers used ropes to move a massive rock while dozens of others, aided by dogs, searched the rubble for survivors, videos posted online by the Maoxian government and CCTV show.
Bulldozers and heavy diggers were also deployed to remove boulders, the images showed.
Medics were seen treating a woman on a road. Hundreds of police, military and firefighters were taking part in the rescue.
More than 120 people were still missing hours after the landslide, CCTV and the official Xinhua news agency reported.
State media had earlier reported that 141 people might have been buried, but did not explain why the figure had been revised.
Wang Yongbo, one of the officials in charge of rescue efforts, said the vital signs of one of the survivors “are weak.”
“It’s the biggest landslide in this area since the Wenchuan earthquake,” he said, referring to the disaster in 2008 that killed 87,000 people in a town in Sichuan.
Local police captain Chen Tiebo said the heavy rains that hit the region in recent days had triggered the landslide.
“There are several tonnes of rock” over the village, he told CCTV. “It’s a seismic area here. There’s not a lot of vegetation.”
Trees can help absorb excess rain and prevent landslides.
Tao Jian, director of the local weather service, told CCTV that the 2008 earthquake had “weakened the mountain” and that “a weak rain can provoke a geological catastrophe.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) called for rescuers to “spare no effort” in their search for survivors, CCTV reported.
China’s national weather observatory said more heavy rain was expected in parts of Sichuan and other southwestern provinces.
Landslides are a frequent danger in rural and mountainous parts of China.
At least 12 people were killed in January when a landslide crushed a hotel in Hubei Province.
In October last year, landslides battered eastern China in the wake of torrential rains brought by Typhoon Megi, causing widespread damage and killing at least eight.
More than 70 were killed by a landslide in the southern commercial hub of Shenzhen in December 2015, caused by the improper storage of waste.
One of the deadliest landslides took place in 1991, when 216 were killed in southwestern Yunnan Province.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday expressed its concern and sympathy to Beijing over the landslide.
The council said it conveyed its condolences to China on behalf of the government and offered assistance.
The government hopes that the rescue efforts will proceed smoothly and that people living in the area can soon return to their normal lives, it added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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