Village hit by landslide described as decimated
MAO COUNTY, China — Rescuers recovered 10 bodies and were still searching for 93 missing people Sunday, a day after a huge landslide buried a picturesque mountain village in southwestern China.
More than 2,500 rescuers with detection devices and dogs were looking for signs of life amid the rubble of huge boulders that rained down on Xinmo village in Sichuan province early Saturday.
As of Sunday night, only three people — a couple and their monthold baby — had been rescued from the disaster site.
Sitting on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau in Aba prefecture’s Mao County, Xinmo has in recent years become a tourism destination for its scenery of lush meadows tucked between steep and rugged mountains. The landslide decimated the village, reducing it to rubble.
As heavy machines removed debris and men scoured the rubble for survivors Sunday, relatives from nearby villages sobbed as they awaited news of their loved ones.
“It was as if strong winds were blowing by, or a big truck rumbled by,” said Tang Hua, a 38-year-old woman from a nearby village. “The houses were shaking, as if there were an earthquake. We rushed out and saw massive smoke. With a thundering sound, the smoke suddenly lifted. We realized it was a landslide.”
Tang has relatives in Xinmo, but she said little could be done at this point. “The whole village is done for,” she said.
The landslide carried the equivalent of more than 7,200 Olympic-size swimming pools of earth and rock. Some of it slid from as high as a mile.
The Sichuan provincial government said Sunday that 10 bodies had been found, lowering an earlier figure of 15 that had been reported by state media. It also lowered the number of missing to 93.