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.
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