Landslide in southwest China leaves over 140 missing
At least five people have been found dead and 141 remain missing hours after a massive landslide buried a mountain village in southwest China, the Chinese state-run broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported Saturday.
About 40 homes were also destroyed in Xinmo village in Maoxian county, after the side of a mountain collapsed at about 06:00 local time (22:00 GMT Friday).
President Xi Jinping urged on the rescue effort, but state broadcaster CCTV reported that by midday the only people rescued were a couple and their two-month-old baby.
The landslide blocked a two-kilometer (1.24 miles) stretch of a nearby river and 1.6 kilometers of road, according to CCTV.
Bulldozers and heavy diggers were also deployed to remove boulders, the images showed. Medics were seen treating a woman on a road. Hundreds of police, military and firefighters were taking part in the rescue.
Wang Yongbo, one of the officials in charge of rescue efforts, said the vital signs of one of the survivors “are weak”.
“It’s the biggest landslide in this area since the Wenchuan earthquake,” he said, referring to the disaster that killed 87,000 people in 2008 in a town in Sichuan.
Roads in the county were closed on Saturday to all traffic except emergency services, the news agency said.
