Hopes dim for 118 people still missing
DIEXI (AFP) — Rescuers dug through earth and rocks for a second day yesterday in an increasingly bleak search for some 118 people still missing after their village in southwest China vanished under a huge landslide.
Officials have pulled 15 bodies from the avalanche of rocks that crashed into 62 homes in Xinmo, a once pictur- esque mountain village nestled by a river in Sichuan province.
Only three survivors — a couple and their one-monthold baby — have been found since heavy rain brought down a side of the mountain early Saturday, officials said.
At least 118 people remain missing, according to the local government — the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba.
The official Xinhua news agency cited geological experts at the site as saying the chance of finding any survivors “was really slim.”
Qiao Dashi, the surviving baby’s father, said he had woken up after 5 a.m. to change his crying son’s diaper when he “heard a big noise coming from the back.”
“The house shook,” he told state broadcaster CCTV from his hospital bed. “Rocks were in the living room. My wife and I climbed over, took the baby, and got out.”
“I have superficial injuries. Overall, I’m okay. But psychologically, it’s hard. The entire village, with dozens of families, was flattened,” he said, with a bandage around his head.
At least half a dozen red excavators removed debris at the base of the slope yesterday as the search continued.