More bodies as search goes on

118 MISSING: VILLAGE DISAPPEARS IN HUGE LANDSLIDE

Chances of finding more survivors in China ‘really slim’.

Wenchuan

Rescuers dug through earth and rocks for a second day yesterday in an increasingly bleak search for about 118 people still missing after their village in southwest China was buried by a huge landslide.

Rescuers have pulled 15 bodies from the avalanche of rocks that crashed into 62 homes in Xinmo, a once picturesque mountain village nestled by a river in Sichuan province.

Only three survivors – a couple and their one-month-old 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 official Xinhua news agency cited geological experts at the site as saying the chance of finding any survivors “was really slim”.

Rescuers with lights on their helmets and sniffer dogs searched for people through the night as lamps illuminated the grey rubble, according to images on state media.

Excavators removed debris as the search continued yesterday. About 3 000 workers with life-detection instruments were taking part in the search, Xinhua said.

The landslide blocked a 2km stretch of river and 1.6km of road.

No sign of the village could be seen in aerial footage, which showed a grim and grey rockstrewn landscape covering the area where it once existed by a river.

“It’s the biggest landslide in this area since the Wenchuan earthquake,” said Wang Yongbo, one of the officials in charge of rescue efforts, referring to the disaster that killed 87 000 people in 2008 in a town in Sichuan.

Xu, the deputy governor, said 142 tourists had visited the village on Friday but that none of them were victims.

Local police captain Chen Tiebo said the heavy rains that hit the region in recent days had triggered the landslide, burying the village under rocks.

“It’s a seismic area here. There’s not a lot of vegetation,” Chen said. 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 even a small amount of rain could provoke a geological catastrophe.

President Xi Jinping called for rescuers to “spare no effort” in their search for survivors and prevent more disasters. – AFP