The death toll from a landslide in a mountainous area of southwestern China rose to 31 on Tuesday, state media reported.
• Read also: Landslide in China: “race against time” to find survivors
• Read also: Landslide in China: dozens missing, at least eight dead
The drama occurred early Monday morning in the small village of Liangshui, in Yunnan, one of the poorest provinces in the country.
Nearly 36 hours after the disaster began, the death toll stands at 31, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Eighteen houses were buried under the mud and more than 200 people had to be evacuated.
A previous report released by public television CCTV spoke of 25 dead and at least 24 missing.
Over 900 people have been relocated, electricity and telecommunications are functioning normally, the broadcaster reports, specifying that “the search for the missing” “continues”, despite the negative temperatures.
“Race against time”
A day and a half after the disaster, rescue teams are in a “race against time” to find buried people, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
CCTV cameras broadcast images of rescuers searching for survivors among metal and concrete debris. Another video showed residents around a fire warming themselves and eating instant noodles.
Local residents are also participating in the rescue operation, Xinhua reported.
“Our village is not far from here,” Hong Jie, 38, told the agency. “We come mainly to distribute basic necessities, cook and deliver food to those in need.”
The collapsed mass of rocks “measured about 100 meters wide and 60 meters high, with an average thickness of about six meters,” Wu Junyao, director of the Bureau of Natural Resources and Development, told Xinhua. that he has jurisdiction over Liangshui village.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called on emergency services to “do everything possible to limit the number of casualties.”
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Yunnan is a mountainous province, populated by numerous ethnic groups and one of the poorest in China.
According to state media images, Monday’s disaster occurred in a rural area surrounded by towering snow-capped peaks.
No reason has yet been given to explain the tragedy.
Landslides occur regularly in the mountainous areas of southwestern China, especially after rains.
In September, thunderstorms in the Guangxi region (south) caused a landslide in a mountainous area, which killed at least seven people, according to local press.
About twenty people died last August in a landslide following a flash flood in a village near the large city of Xi’an (north).
In June 2023, a landslide in Sichuan (southwest) province, also isolated and mountainous, killed 19 people.
2024-01-23 12:29:10
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