Race to find survivors as death toll hits 31 in Yunnan landslide
The death toll from a landslide that struck a remote and mountainous part of southwestern China reached 31 on Tuesday, state media said, as rescuers raced to find those still trapped under the debris.
The pre-dawn landslide buried 18 homes and sparked the evacuation of more than 200 people when it struck in Zhenxiong county, Yunnan province early Monday.
Nearly 36 hours since the disaster, 31 people have been confirmed dead, state news agency Xinhua said. An earlier report by state broadcaster CCTV announced that 24 people were still missing at that time.
Xinhua said rescue workers were in a “race against time” to find those still missing, after a night of sub-zero temperatures.
“Search and rescue efforts persisted through the night,” firefighter Li Shenglong said.
Wu Junyao, director of the natural resources and planning bureau of Zhaotong, told Xinhua that the disaster “resulted from a collapse in the steep cliff area atop the slope”.
Two hundred rescue workers have been dispatched to the scene as well as dozens of fire engines and other equipment.
The site was covered in thick snow and rescuers were “using all kinds of tools to search for survivors”, Xinhua reported.
Wu said the rescuers were digging through collapsed debris of “100 metres in width, 60 metres in height, with an average thickness of around 6 metres”.
CCTV showed footage of rescue workers digging through twisted metal and concrete overnight in a bid to find survivors. Other footage showed locals huddling for warmth around a fire in a shelter, eating instant noodles.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday ordered “all-out” rescue efforts.
Landslides are common in Yunnan, a far-flung and largely impoverished region of China where steep mountain ranges butt against the Himalayan plateau. Monday’s disaster occurred in a rural area surrounded by towering peaks dusted with snow, state media footage showed.